The Cursed Paintings
by Just Dyana
Summary: The last time Inuyasha painted someone, it didn't end well for him nor for the woman involved. He decided never to do it again. But then, he meets Kagome, and the past can't seem to stop resurfacing. There may be more to the story than he thought, and Kagome sure intends to find out. Inukag, modern AU.
1. Starry Night over the Rhône

_Disclaimer:_ _I don't own Inuyasha, I'm just borrowing the characters. But I'll give them back. Maybe._

 _Rating may change, but for now it's only there for the language._

Starry Night Over the Rhône

Their meeting, though it truly didn't deserve that name, was completely accidental. He shouldn't have been there and she was running late.

Inuyasha was standing outside of the museum, his eyes directed at the sky. The stars couldn't really be seen, and that irked him, for some reason unknown to him. It was still better than to be inside be, though. He glanced back to the giant, fully glassed construction. People were playing the game of meetings and money, and he made it a point to refuse to play his role. If he could make it even slightly more complicated for these vultures, he would take every chance he had.

Once more, he felt thankful for being a painter and not an actor or some other 'fancier' job. You didn't get much more famous than he already was, in this small and closed world, and he received enough attention as it was. Inuyasha Taishô fleeing from the inauguration of a new section named after him in the prestigious museum? There would no doubt be gossip.

He could handle gossips.

He turned back towards the sky, a disgusted scowl on his face.

That's when he heard the footsteps.

Her footsteps.

They were quickly followed by a heavy breathing, and he looked back down to the steps. The museum was on a small hill, and people had to climb a long, long flight of stairs to get there. Hey, art and culture had a price, didn't they?

There was, however, another access, one that came with an elevator, but the small form that hurried up the stairs didn't seem to be aware of it.

Inuyasha had no idea why he was even paying attention to the person, but when she tilted her head back to see how far she was from the museum, his heart missed a beat.

He wanted to paint her.

That was the thought that filled his mind the very first time he saw Kagome Higurashi.

It wasn't so much that she was pretty, although, to him, she _really_ was, nor the fact that she had a troubling resemblance to the only woman he had ever loved — the thought didn't even cross his mind at that moment —, it was something else, something he had trouble naming. Inuyasha wasn't good with words, that was one of the reasons why he painted, after all, but he would have said something about an energy that surrounded her. Those words would have felt empty, though, and wouldn't have done her any justice, however he could not find a way to explain it completely.

She seemed to be full of determination, to have a will strong enough to take down anyone or anything that would stand in her way, and yet she looked like the most _human_ person he had ever met. She felt… Ugh, fuck it. He couldn't put it in words.

Maybe that was why he felt the need to put her on one of his paintings so badly, to feel like he had a better grasp of who she was.

She ran past him, her hair flying free behind her, and didn't pay him any attention, seemingly focused only on her goal, which appeared to be the museum. He caught her smell, and he was surprised to find he liked it.

He liked it a lot.

He held back a growl as he looked away from her, firmly determined to give his attention back to the stars. There was no way in hell that he would indulge that weird desire. Last time hadn't gone well, and he had learnt his lesson. Never again.

But the stars seemed even duller now, and after a short while, he let out an angry snarl and walked back into the building in a few long strides.

The noise immediately assaulted his senses. It wasn't noisy per se, and it would have felt rather calm to a human, actually.

Inuyasha, however, was not human.

His eyes scanned the room, almost despite himself, looking for the woman he had just seen. He didn't really calm down when he didn't find her. He could have gone hunting for her scent, but instead, he walked towards the buffet and grabbed a glass of champagne. He didn't really drink, at least not most of the time, but if he wanted to stop himself from running after someone he had never met and to whom he would anyway forbid himself from talking, he thought he might need a bit of alcohol in his system.

Well, until Miroku, his best (or was it only?) friend snatched said glass from his hand and downed it in one. Inuyasha growled.

"The heck do ya think you're doing?" he protested, although it was too late at that point.

"My dear Inuyasha," Miroku sighed, gently putting his hand on the other man's shoulder, "you should know by now that you have absolutely no tolerance when it comes to alcohol. I was merely considering your well-being."

Inuyasha scoffed and rolled his eyes.

"So what, am I supposed to thank you, too?"

"Well, I would appreciate that, but it is only in my nature to behave in such a way," Miroku said obsequiously, earning another annoyed sound from his friend. He then allowed himself to chuckle and to relax slightly.

"I told you before," Inuyasha mumbled, "I ain't a woman. You don't have to treat me like that."

"And I told you before," Miroku shrugged, "I wouldn't complain if you were interested."

"But I'm not. So would you fuckin' stop already?"

Miroku chuckled. It was just way too easy to get Inuyasha to react. Truth be told, he wasn't interested in the other man, at least not like that, but this was _fun_.

"Don't you have another someone you should be pestering right now anyway?"

Miroku immediately deflated, which brought a grin on his friend's lips. Inuyasha wouldn't exactly have called Sango a friend, but damn, the girl kept making his days better.

"What? She sent you away already? You're not waisting any time, this thing started less than an hour ago."

"Ah, you just have to rub salt in the wound, don't you? No, I haven't talked to the lovely Sango yet, but I'm afraid she has been avoiding me… Which is why I have been looking for you."

Inuyasha immediately tensed. Uh oh, he didn't like where this was heading. He hated it when Miroku dragged him in his weird plans to approach a girl. He was thankful that, most of the time, the other painter managed to do it all by himself. Miroku had, indeed, a very successful approach technique with women, one for which he was probably just as known as for his actual paintings.

You see, Miroku was what can best be defined as an erotic painter, and that, if you asked him, was the best pick-up line ever. It meant he could go to anyone and ask them if he could paint them like one of those french girls, and he had quite a high chance of succeeding, which meant getting them naked on a couch. Afterwards, it wasn't rare for him to have a 'sexual encounter' with them, as he phrased it.

While he did go after women most of the time, he didn't have anything against men. The money he got from selling his paintings was really just the cherry on top.

That had, however, never worked with Sango Taiji. It shouldn't have been a problem, as Miroku had faced quite a few refusals, but apparently, he took it more to heart this time.

"Come with me," Miroku said, "she won't be able to run away from the artist of the night."

Inuyasha protested, but soon enough, Miroku was dragging him with him in the search of his lady. Of course, Inuyasha knew he would have to talk to her sooner or later — she was, after all, the director of the museum — and at least that way he would help his friend, but it didn't mean he had to _like_ it.

* * *

Kagome was ferreting about the museum, examining with only meek interest the various paintings or work of art that were exposed everywhere. She had never been particularly attracted to art, despite her best friend's efforts to get her to pay attention to it. She could be touched by the emotion that came from some of them, but how a black point on a white canvas could be deemed genius was beyond her.

Since she had arrived, she had contemplated sitting down somewhere and enjoying the free drinks and food, but she still had to find said best friend, and honestly, she would be too afraid of accidentally sitting on a work of art.

"Kagome!"

She quickly looked away from a weird heap of metal to look for the source of the voice, and smiled.

Sango walked towards her, smiling just as brightly. She looked dashing in her black, Chinese dress, with a mandarin collar set off in a golden color. Kagome felt cruelly underdressed. She hadn't taken her coat off yet, but her red dress was nothing as… noticeable as what Sango was wearing.

"Take that off, it's so hot in here!" Sango said, helping her out of her jacket with her usual precise movements. "I'm glad you came," she added once she had entrusted one of the employees with the piece of clothing, "I thought you had decided that this wasn't important enough for you."

Kagome gave her an apologetic smile. She knew Sango would have liked to be able to share her passion for art with her, but Kagome just couldn't bring herself to care for it. She still really appreciated Sango's invitation to come here. The upper crust of society was reunited here tonight, and Kagome could almost hear her social studies teacher explaining to her how the appreciation for art and culture was a social indicator.

Entertaining a connection with those people could only be interesting for the young journalist, and even if she didn't talk to them, her mere presence here was enough to show that she knew where to be. Another sort of indicator, in the end.

Sango couldn't help but smiling as she watched her friend's eyes scan the room attentively. She could almost see the wheels turning in her head. As for her, she could easily identify any artist here, and eventually a few famous people, such as the mayor, but that was pretty much it. Kagome would probably be able to give the names of every person she couldn't recognize, as well as their profession and the name of the school where their children went to.

It wasn't as creepy as it sounded, there just wasn't that many really prestigious schools around.

"Let's get moving," Sango urged her friend, casually grabbing her arm.

Kagome tilted her head and looked at her, following her but still curious.

"What is it? Do you need me to take care of someone for you?"

Sango didn't try to conceal her laugh. She was more than capable of taking care of basically anyone, whether it'd be human or demon, if she wanted to, and Kagome knew it. Kagome, on the other hand, had a weird form of natural power that she could use against demons, but she had never tried to use it on purpose. She had actually discovered it completely by accident, less than a year ago.

"I'm avoiding Miroku Houshi," Sango admitted, still moving.

Kagome grimaced sympathetically. She knew the guy had started to hit on Sango when he had made his 'come-back' to the art world after nearly losing his right hand in an accident, and his first paintings since then had been exposed in the museum. She also knew that Sango mentioned him very often. Usually it was to complain, but Kagome had noticed the blush that tended to appear on her friend's cheeks whenever he was the subject of the conversation, and she would not be fooled into believing it was just anger that was going on here.

"And you have to be polite with him because of your job?" she asked, knowing perfectly that it was nothing like that but hoping she could get her friend to talk so that they would eventually be able to make her progress — this had been going on for long enough now.

"No, it's just that I know what kind of men he…" Sango stopped and glanced at Kagome who gave her an innocent smile. "Oh you," she sighed. "Miroku paints naked women or men, sleeps with them, and that's pretty much it."

"Huh," Kagome said thoughtfully. "And you don't want to sleep with him?"

Sango blushed. She would never, ever had admitted that to Miroku, nor to anyone apart from Kagome for that matter. Hell, she had admitted it to herself only very recently. But still, the words managed to escape her lips in a whisper.

"I wouldn't want to… _just_ sleep with him."

Well, _now_ they were getting somewhere, Kagome thought with some satisfaction. Not that she had any idea as to how to solve the problem, but now she could hope that Sango would be able to make the right decision. Possibly. Sango wasn't always the best at making decisions when they involved her.

She was about to say something, to try to comfort her and push her into at least deciding on something, when a deep voice was heard, surprising both of them.

"Evening, ladies."

Sango immediately tensed, and her voice was cold when she spoke.

"Naraku," she said, meeting his eyes. She didn't smile, she didn't extend her hand, and next to her, Kagome straightened up. Naraku was the owner of a very big and private gallery. He was ridiculously rich, and had quite the reputation. It was said that weird things happened to people who bought what he sold, particularly the ones signed by a mysterious man named 'Onigumo'.

"It's always a pleasure to see you, Sango," he said unctuously. "Once again, I think this will prove to be a complete success. I hope you won't mind if I say that I still hope you will soon start working for me."

"Of course not," Sango answered, still not smiling. "It is your right after all. Now if you don't mind, I have things to…"

"I don't think I've been introduced to your friend," he interrupted her, his eyes now glued to Kagome.

The journalist had to stop herself from shivering in… In what, exactly? Was it fear that she was feeling? Or disgust? She couldn't tell, but it had to be one of those emotions. She mustered the courage to give him a polite smile, but she didn't like to have the man's attention on her. It was too strong. Kagome thought of herself as pretty, but she wasn't that mesmerizing. She held out her hand, hoping to break the weird tension she was feeling.

"Kagome Higurashi," she said lightly. "I'm a journalist at the Shikon Shrine."

"Ah, you must work for Kaede, then?"

She nodded. The old woman was, indeed, the director of the journal. Given how successful Naraku was, it wouldn't be a surprise if he knew her personally.

"Well, you'll give her my regards, Miss Higurashi."

She hated the way he said her name. Slowly, detaching every syllable, his tone way too sweet. At that moment, she found him absolutely repulsive, and she wanted nothing more than to run away. But adults don't do that, she remembered. They don't cower when they're faced with danger. She was _sure_ Naraku meant danger.

The black-haired man bowed slightly and walked away. The two women watched him intensely, both tensed, but none of them could see through his back, and therefore none of them saw the smug, sadistic smile that made its way to the man's face.

Sango turned back towards Kagome and opened her mouth to warn her friend, once more, against that man, despite knowing that she probably didn't need to.

"Sango!"

She froze. Shit. She had stayed in place for too long. She glanced behind her shoulder, willing to see Miroku's position so that she could run away in the most efficient manner, only to notice that he was accompanied by tonight's star.

She was sure he had done it on purpose.

It almost brought a smile on her face, how much he seemed to try to get close to her, but she managed to compose a calm and professional face before turning towards them.

"Miroku, Inuyasha," she greeted them with absolute impassivity. "It is always a pleasure to see you."

She intended on talking mostly to Inuyasha, and have the other stupid painter who dared to make her feel… Actually, who dared to make her _feel_ , but she quickly forgot about those plans when she saw that Inuyasha was staring at Kagome with an attention that she had never seen coming from him, and even less so directed towards a woman.

That was _new_.

So she reluctantly focused on Miroku, already feeling her heart fluttering and her stomach making weird leaps. Damn it.

* * *

Of course, Miroku had been the one to spot Sango. Inuyasha wasn't exactly looking for her, despite what he had told to his friend. Seeing her talking to Naraku had almost made him growl. He had only had very few encounters with the man, but he didn't like him. Not one bit.

However, that wasn't what had angered him the most. No, it was when he had seen him shift his attention from Sango — and had he paid any attention to him, he would have seen Miroku's shoulders visibly relax — to the black-haired woman who he had seen coming in late. The one who he had wanted to paint. The urge hadn't disappeared, but as he studied her, dread suddenly poured over him.

She looked like Kikyô.

Fuck. _Fuck_.

That should have sent him running away immediately, but it shouldn't have surprised him. He had wanted to paint Kikyô too, hadn't he? Looked like he had a type after all.

He heard Miroku call Sango's name as Naraku walked away, and at that point, he was willing to just leave him alone. He still had no idea why he hadn't, but he kept looking at the girl.

She was pretty, he noted, but she wasn't _beautiful_. Kikyô's beauty was cold, almost scary. There was nothing scary about that girl. Kikyô was all angles and rigidity, while that girl felt more… Well. Fluctuant? Maybe it was her face that made him think that, slightly rounder than Kikyô's, or just the way she acted, like she wasn't restrained by anything.

He really had to stop using words. Words were terrible. He itched to get his hands on a brush and start painting. That would make everything clearer.

She turned towards him and Miroku as the man called out Sango's name, and their eyes met.

Kagome's breath caught in her throat. She had been very curious to see what that Miroku looked like, but her eyes only brushed over him, immediately attracted to the man next to him. The first thing she noticed was his long black hair. She was vaguely aware of Sango engaging a conversation with Miroku, and that's when her eyes met those of the stranger.

He had deep, violet eyes, and they carried so many emotions that she didn't know what to make of them. It felt like she was suddenly in the middle of an ocean of contradictory feelings on which she had no control. She couldn't really identify them as she stared at the man, her blue eyes wide, but there was something terribly _strong_ about those emotions.

She managed to tear herself away from the silent exchange of whatever it was that was going on between them when Miroku asked about her. She had just focused on him again when she heard Sango answer that her friend was Kagome Higurashi, and was more than confused when he took a step forward and grabbed her hands.

"Such a pretty name for such a beautiful woman," he said smoothly.

She noticed his eyes glancing quickly over to Sango and it was so obvious that she wanted to scream. Was he trying to make her jealous? By flirting with her best friend? Did he seriously think that would work?

There was no way he could be that stupid, right?

And _then_ she saw Sango biting her lip not to laugh. Sango barely expressed emotions on the job, except for when Kagome was around. So that meant that guy had cracked her shell enough to see that.

Oh. _Oh_. This could turn into something more serious.

Kagome gently freed her hands and gave Miroku a bright smile.

"It's a pleasure to be meeting you, M. Houshi. I've heard a lot about you."

She noticed Sango's eyes widening, and she knew the glare that followed meant another "Oh you", though probably on a completely different tone, but that was nothing compared to Miroku's reaction. A genuine smile appeared on his lips, and she almost didn't hear the "You did?" he squeaked.

Why were these two not together yet, exactly?

"And this is Inuyasha Taishô," Sango said, making Kagome look away from Miroku. "Inuyasha, Kagome. Kagome, Inuyasha."

Kagome quickly licked her lips before pulling them into a smile and held out her hand. Her heart was beating slightly faster than it should have been, and she could honestly have punched herself. What was wrong with her? She wasn't a teenager anymore! She wasn't supposed to get shy or embarrassed when she met a hot guy, damn it!

Even one as _handsome_ as that one.

Because of that, it took her a second to register his name, and to realize he was the artist that was celebrated that night. Which meant she should have said something, but she had no idea _what_ he did. Was he a painter? A sculptor? Her mind was perfectly blank, so all she said was "it's a pleasure to meet you."

Fortunately, she had a wonderful best friend.

"Inuyasha is the painter whose works we will start exposing tonight," Sango said, with just a hint of amusement in her voice. "His new paintings are upstairs, actually." She then turned to Inuyasha and offered the gracious, perfectly mastered smile of a businesswoman, for that was, in many ways, what her job was about. "I was hoping you would do us the honor of saying a speech."

While Kagome thanked Sango interiorly and decided that she would do absolutely anything to get her with Miroku, Inuyasha had to hide his panic. He knew he had the reputation of being a bit… unsociable, to say the least, and that no one would expect much from him, but he still hated to have to express himself in public. Being an artist actually meant that people thought he was 'eccentric' and didn't mock him, but that didn't make it something he enjoyed. He cursed himself for not expecting that from Sango.

He opened his mouth to bark his refusal, however he was well-aware of the fact that this wasn't really an option. Sango knew how much he hated that stuff, and she wouldn't have asked unless she had a good reason, probably the presence of some journalist from an art magazine. Kagome, who had almost overcome her first embarrassment, noticed his annoyance.

"You didn't prepare a speech?"

Inuyasha's head turned towards her in a snapping movement that surprised her. He looked like she had caught him off-guard, and he vaguely reminded her of how her brother looked when he hadn't done his homework, for some reason.

"So what," Inuyasha hissed, probably taking his anger out on her more than he should have, "you got a problem with that?"

Kagome blinked. She was the one caught off-guard now, because she certainly hadn't expected such hostility.

"Erm, no," she backpedalled, because she _didn't,_ "I was just surprised, but…" she glanced at Sango who was looking at her attentively, and gave her friend a grin. "It's not like it would be my first time writing a speech for someone in five minutes, now, would it?"

To say Inuyasha was surprised by what she seemed to be offering would have been a euphemism. Then, he saw Sango give a wide, very satisfied smirk, and he thought that in a world where Sango could have such an expression, everything was possible. He just needed to find out when and how he had left his usual reality.

"You'd do that?" Miroku asked, chiming in. "I'm _sure_ Inuyasha would appreciate."

He had a bright smile, but the look he gave Inuyasha wasn't completely genuine. It looked more like he was going to try something with Kagome, that would eventually benefit his relation with Sango, but Inuyasha had no idea what twisted plan his perverted friend had in mind yet.

"Sango, could you get me a napkin?"

Sango turned around and deftly grabbed one from a tray as an employee passed by. Her move went completely unnoticed, making Miroku's eyes widen. Wow, she was good with her hands.

… That wasn't supposed to sound like that. Or maybe it was. He couldn't tell. Still, Sango looked beautiful when she seemed to be having fun.

Kagome was pretty much the only one who could get Sango into such mischief, which was funny, given the fact that they were both typical 'good girls' and yet together they managed to turn into some sort of machiavellian entity.

Not that _this_ was Machiavellian. But they had done much worse. Or better. Probably depended on the point of view.

For example, the director of the museum whom Sango had replaced would have said they had done done worse. That, however, is an other story, for another time.

Kagome looked around for a pen, or anything to write with, and frowned slightly when Sango held out a brush. Well, they were here for a painter, weren't they? She grabbed it and started writing, with Sango looking over her shoulder and giving her a few career informations on Inuyasha.

She looked at the time. It would soon be the exact time of the inauguration, which was when it would be 'normal' for Inuyasha to give his speech. Grabbing Kagome's elbow, she proceeded on dragging her to the first floor, gesturing for Inuyasha to follow them and, well, Miroku tagged along. Not that she really minded.

Kagome remained completely focused on what she was doing, obediently following Sango and listening to her when she warned her about the stairs. It really was just a few sentences' speech, but if Inuyasha's problem was words, she needed it to sound and feel _natural_ , which was what was slowing her down at the moment.

She didn't notice Sango's hand leaving her arm and kept moving. She was about to crash into a wall when hands gripped her shoulders, effectively stopping her.

"Hm?"

She looked up, slightly confused as to why she was so close from a wall, and then turned around to see Inuyasha. His hands had already left her shoulders, and he had actually buried them in his red pants, like he wanted to stop himself from doing something like that again.

Or like he had hated the touch.

 _Don't read too much into it, Kagome_.

So what if her love life was pathetic since her break up with Hojo? She couldn't start to imagine things with every handsome stranger she met!

She then noticed that Sango was saying a few words to introduce Inuyasha, and she cursed under her breath. She reread what she had written quickly. It wasn't perfect, and some sentences probably sounded too 'written' for an oral speech, but that was the best she could do with so little time.

Without thinking, she grabbed Inuyasha's wrist, forcing him to take his hand out of his pocket and sticked the napkin into it.

"There," she said, not really noticing his almost shocked expression. "Just stick to the script, okay?"

Inuyasha muttered something under his breath, feeling his cheeks heat up. Damn it, he hated that. There was a _reason_ why he stayed away from people! Miroku didn't count, since Miroku had practically forced his friendship on him.

His eyes skimmed through the napkin and his face slightly lit up with relief. If he had tried to do something like that, it would have been terrible, and he probably would have torn the paper before even getting to his speech, but what was written… Looked right. She had a terrible writing, but if he could decipher it, it should actually help him.

He was about to say something when he heard Sango finishing her introduction. It was his turn. He turned away from the woman and walked to the balcony. The most important people in town were gathered there, waiting for him to say something. Probably ready to revel into how he couldn't talk properly and then say that he was 'wonderfully eccentric'.

What a bunch of assholes. Saying that just allowed them to feel superior to him in some way.

He cleared his throat and started reading from the napkin. He was no actor, sure, but he felt like he did a good enough job at not looking like he was reading too much.

Once he was done and everybody had clapped politely and with more or less enthusiasm, he shoved the napkin into his pocket. He'd throw it out when he'd find a trash can.

Sango gave him a smile that seemed more genuine than it usually was, but he discovered that the woman was gone.

Not like he cared.

Miroku patted him on the shoulder, congratulating him and singing the woman's praises in a way that just made Inuyasha think he was trying to get on Sango's good side. Inuyasha merely shrugged. He had to be there for another hour before he could leave without being rude. Oh, it would surely be _eccentric_ , but those people adored that, didn't they?

He stood by what he'd thought earlier, even if he doubted there was so much they could say after thay speech.

What a bunch of assholes.

* * *

Kagome was _bored_. Absolutely, completely, desperately and utterly _bored_. She had come here to make connections, and she thought she had been doing a rather good job at that so far, but it really wasn't any fun. Saying the newspaper's name immediately made people try to win her over — better to have a journalist friend rather than an enemy — or just to drive her away. She was getting tired of old men trying to feel her up or young wolves declining any form of contact with her.

Metaphorical young wolves, meaning young businessmen hungry for power, although there _were_ a few wolves demons around.

She wanted to leave, she really did, but that would be plain disrespectful for Sango, and she knew she had to stay if she wanted to leave a good impression on the town's 'nobility'. Journalist or not, unless they deemed her worthy of walking in their world, they would make her life a living hell. They wouldn't go directly against someone working for Kaede Nomiko, but even her protection had its limits.

She noticed dark hair flying as someone escaped the party through the front door. Without giving it too much thought, because that wasn't how she functioned, she reached for the door, catching it before it closed, and saw Inuyasha making his way down the stairs, his hands deep in his pockets and his back slightly leaning backwards.

"Nice speech!" she yelled.

He froze and turned to look at her.

Well, she was there to make connections, wasn't she? She ran to Inuyasha and slipped her card in his hand.

He frowned, vaguely looking at the small, red dress she was wearing before thinking that this was a _terrible_ idea and looking away as quickly as possible, urging his brain to stop thinking about _where_ she had kept that card or that red looked great on her.

"If you ever need help for something like that again, you can just give me a call," she said with a bright smile.

She was about to turn around and go back, knowing that she'd spent the rest of the night now wanting to punch herself for doing something like that when he wrapped his fingers around her arm.

"Hang on a second," Inuyasha said sternly. "Why did you do that?"

"Hm, well, I mean, I know we haven't talked a lot, but, erm, I still think it would be nice if you, hm, would call me?" she stuttered, all too aware of how burning her cheeks were and of his hand on her skin.

But Inuyasha shook his head, forbidding his brain to register or to interpret what she had said during her nervous ramble.

"No, I meant, why did you write the speech?"

"Oh." Now she felt even more stupid then before. Something else to kick herself for. "Well, you needed help," she said bluntly. Inuyasha blinked, and then Kagome smiled, her eyes almost sparkling. "And I thought it would be _fun_."

With that, she slipped out of his grip, gave him a wave, and yelled "call me if you want to!" while climbing back up the stairs.

She couldn't believe that stupid evening wasn't over yet.

* * *

Inuyasha stared dumbly at the glass doors for a few seconds after she'd disappeared. His hands were itching even more now that he had seen that last smile. He wanted to paint her.

He never painted people. The last time had been five years ago and that had been a terrible mistake, for which he thought he had paid more than enough.

He glanced down at the card that read 'Kagome Higurashi - Journalist' along with her contacts informations. He thought about throwing it away so he would never have the tentation, but then, he might need her help again. There was bound to be times when people would ask him to say a longer speech, and he would rather never ask for Miroku for help again for something like that — the man couldn't be trusted.

He angrily shoved the card in his pocket, crumpling it in the process, promising himself _not_ to call her unless absolutely necessary.

He would get her out of his mind easily, he thought. Sure, he hadn't gotten that urge in a long time, but it was just that. An urge. Nothing he needed to worry about.

So why did his heart refuse to calm down?

* * *

 _Well, that was quite long for a first chapter, wasn't it? I hope you've enjoyed it! It's my first time trying to write an Inuyasha AU. It was originally supposed to be a one-shot, then it turned into a short, light-hearted fic, and now it has a (somewhat) complex plot and it's going to be a lot longer, ahah._

 _Please let me know what you thought in the reviews! It's amazing to know that people enjoy what I write and constructive criticism will help me make this story better!_

 _Dya._


	2. Portrait of the Journalist

_Disclaimer_ _:_ _Surprisingly enough, I didn't obtain ownership of Inuyasha since last time._

Portrait of the Journalist Sylvia von Harden

Kagome was sitting at her desk, enthusiastically typing back on her computer illegible words from her notebook when Kaede's halted in front of her. The young woman's movements stopped, and she looked at the older woman with surprise.

Kaede had started the _Shikon Shrine_ decades ago, and was pretty much a legend in town. She had covered some of the most important stories of the past years, and was rumored to have made empires collapse. She had even lost her right eye during one of her investigations, and the eyepatch she wore made kid fear her — or call her a pirate.

She was an old woman now, though, and she had a big team working under her now. Kagome was one of those people. She worked for the investigation section, something she was rather proud of. It was, however, rather rare for Kaede to get out of her office now, and Kagome looked at her inquiringly.

"I heard you were at the inauguration of a new gallery at the Goshinboku, child."

Kagome couldn't help but smile at the nickname Kaede used. She nodded, still not seeing where the older woman was going with this. She was pretty sure there had been an article about the inauguration in this week's edition of the _Shikon_ , and art was not one of the subject she treated.

Unless… Unless it was to become one.

She suddenly sat up straight, less inquisitive but still just as curious. A small light appeared in her eyes, and Kaede, once more, felt happy for hiring Kagome. The girl was a breath of fresh air. She was brave, she was smart, and, something that was not to be ignored in their profession, she had the most surprising friends.

"Weird things are happening in the world of art those days, ye know."

Kaede grabbed a chair and sat next to the black-haired woman. She had her undivided attention, although she was pretty sure Kagome had no idea what she was talking about.

"There are paintings that are said to be cursed."

This time, Kagome nodded.

"My friend Sango mentioned that to me before. The ones signed by Onigumo."

Kaede rose an eyebrow. She had wondered how the young woman had managed to get an invite for such a select reception, but she had not expected her to know the _director_ of the museum. She already knew about her friendship with the leader of the Wolves, but apparently, Kagome would never cease to amaze her.

"Indeed," Kaede acknowledged.

"But shouldn't just an exorcism solve that? People do exorcisms all the time."

Kaede smirked and shook her head.

"'t'is not that simple, child. Countless paintings are voluntarily enchanted by demons, and an exorcism would destroy part of their value."

Kagome frowned.

"Yes… But they fall under the law on enchanted objects, right? I wrote something on Yura of the Hair and her cursed combs — that's illegal. You have to let people know about objects' powers, you even need an authorization delivered by the mayor."

Kaede nodded.

"Ye are perfectly right, but this is _art_ we're talking about. Having such a reputation only makes the price rise."

"So you think this is about money?" Kagome asked hesitantly.

"It is at least a possibility," Kaede admitted, "but I am afraid something much darker is going on here. As ye know, many demons are empowered by pain or death."

Kagome scribbled something on her notebook and threw a piercing glance at Kaede.

"There's something you're not telling me, ma'am," she said, leaning towards the old woman. "What are your thoughts on the situation?"

Kaede couldn't help but smile. The old hag still had some resources left, eh? She may not be able to go on the field herself anymore, but her intuition worked marvels. She was rarely wrong, and there was always something fishy, if not downright terrible going on when she pointed at it.

"It is this Naraku," Kaede said, her voice low. "He is the only one who dares to sell Onigumo's paintings, and he makes a lot of money that way."

Kagome started to chew on her pencil.

"But Naraku's not a demon, while no one knows anything about Onigumo. Shouldn't he be the one we're going after?"

Kaede shook her head.

"As you said, _no one_ knows anything about Onigumo. Plus, Naraku is the one who makes the most money out of this situation, since he gets a commission each time the painting's sold."

"Yeah, but you said the pain the paintings cause may be used to empower demons, so what would that…"

"Demons were used as weapons by humans before," Kaede reminded her.

This time Kagome nodded. That would make sense. Sure, she would need to look into it, but this was a possibility. If it was true, then Naraku would probably often be in contact with demonic energy, and that could explain the strange feelings she had experienced upon meeting him. But it must have been quite a dangerous demon, given how strongly she'd felt shaken by it.

"Is that it?" she asked.

Kaede was silent for a few seconds.

"I think the paintings had something to do with the death of my sister's granddaughter's death."

Kagome was surprised once again, and she quickly tried to remember if she knew anything about Kaede's family.

"Kikyô Nomiko," Kaede said, noticing the younger woman's confusion.

Kagome's eyes widened. Of course, she knew about Kikyô. She had worked at the _Shikon_ for a short amount of time, before becoming the newscaster of a very big news company. The beautiful woman had been the face of informations for a couple of years before… Before she killed herself, four years ago. People sometimes said Kagome looked a bit like her, but she thought nothing of it. She had probably heard about her connection to Kaede at some point, but hadn't really paid much attention to it at the time.

Kagome hesitated, stealing a glance at the old woman's face. That made things more complicated. She had never heard of Onigumo's paintings pushing someone to suicide, just that the owners tended to get into strange accidents. It would make sense for Kaede not to be able to…

"Don't look at me like that," Kaede admonished her, and Kagome winced like a child getting scolded by the teacher would. "I know what ye're thinking, but Kikyô killing herself makes no sense."

Kagome grimaced. "Well, you know, sometimes, people…"

"Hush, child. You trusted me blindly before, and I assure ye family business does not cloud my judgement. Something about her death was off. Look into it — if you won't for the investigation, as a favor for me."

To that, Kagome could only agree. She would have done it without any hesitation, even if it had not been relevant for anything, had Kaede just asked. After all, she could study it and see for herself if she would come to the same conclusion as the older woman, without having any emotional attachment to the woman's death.

"What makes you think that?" Kagome asked. "I don't remember reading anything about it. I never even saw people mentioning the possibility for it to be murder…"

"Months before her death, Kikyô received an Onigumo painting. It was nowhere to be found when we cleaned her apartment."

Kagome frowned.

"Are you sure about that? Did you mention it to the police? It could have been…"

"Positive, child," Kaede asserted. "They said she'd probably sold it, as it happens quite a lot with these paintings. Anyway, they didn't really pay attention to it. Didn't want to meddle with the curse, I guess."

"Alright," Kagome said, putting her notebook in her bag before standing up. "I'll look into it, ma'am, but I have no idea how long it will take me."

Kaede dismissed her worry with a wave of her hand.

"Do not worry about it. This is what the investigation section is for. But before you go, Kagome…"

"Yes, ma'am?"

"I've offered it before, but are you sure you don't want to start training for your powers? In such a case, it could be useful."

"I'm grateful for the proposition, but I'm still going to refuse it," Kagome smiled. "So far, they've managed to protect me without training, and I have no interest in developing offensive abilities."

Kaede sighed but didn't insist. She already knew how Kagome felt about any kind of violence, and she couldn't exactly force her to train.

"Be careful then, Kagome."

"You know me ma'am, careful's my middle name!"

With a carefree laugh, Kagome ran out of the office. Kaede couldn't help the small smile on her lips. It always surprised her, how Kagome could make hope and happiness bloom inside her. Her social abilities were probably her strongest asset out there. She muzzled her fears. Kagome could handle anything that would come her way.

Kagome called for a taxi as soon as she got out of the building. Jumping inside it and giving an address to the driver, she took her phone out and glanced at the screen. No missed calls, no messages. She sighed, hoping it wouldn't be too audible. She didn't know what she had expected, but she still felt disappointed that Inuyasha hadn't tried to contact her.

She would certainly love to see him again…

* * *

"Miroku, do you have any idea what fuckin' time it is?" Inuyasha growled as his friend barged into his house.

"Inuyasha," the painter answered while taking off his trench coat and throwing it onto a chair, "there is such a thing as being _fashionably_ strange, even in our line of work. Not many people are interested in those who paint with their blood, right? In other words, I do, it's one in the afternoon."

Inuyasha cursed and followed Miroku in his kitchen. The man walked there like he owned the place. He poured his black-haired friend a glass of orange juice, and Inuyasha drank it reluctantly.

"What do you want?" he snarled then.

"The press absolutely _loves_ the gallery," Miroku hummed, completely ignoring the question. He threw a newspaper on the table, and Inuyasha merely glanced at it before looking back at his friend.

"I have a freakin' publicist, Miroku. Why…"

"He hates you and everyone everywhere hates him or fears him. Every sane person, anyway. So of course, he wouldn't tell you anything. Luckily, I'm here."

"Please tell me you didn't wake me up just to tell me the press loves the gallery," Inuyasha sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"I didn't, I woke you up because I wanted to see your wonderful smile… Ok, Inuyasha, put this chair down, I had a good reason to do so."

Inuyasha set the chair down and sat again. Miroku shook his head and arranged his (impeccable) shirttails.

"Geez, you can be such a savage sometimes. Anyway, I'm here because apparently, it is time for you to give your annual interview."

Inuyasha groaned and buried his head in his arms. This was really something that asshole of a publicist should have taken care of, but of course, he couldn't be bothered. What exactly was he paying him for? Oh, right, he didn't have a choice.

"You see, I was with the adorable Sango…"

Inuyasha snorted. Sango was many things, but he would _never_ have called her 'adorable'. He was under the impression that she wouldn't have appreciated it either.

"…when she got a call from a journalist from the _Shikon_ — a man named Hojo, if I remember correctly. He asked about you."

"Why on earth would he call _Sango_ for that?" Inuyasha asked, feeling a headache coming. It didn't make any sense and he had not be awake for long enough to make them make sense.

"I guess he was avoiding your publicist, which is good, since it means he's sane," Miroku said thoughtfully. "It's also common knowledge now that Sango always manages to reach you. Well, her and me, of course," he added smugly.

It was moments like these that made Inuyasha think that, after all, maybe murder was acceptable.

"So if he contacted Sango, why exactly are you here?"

"I just so happened to have been in her office when he called her,"Miroku answered obligingly. "She couldn't afford to meet you at the moment, so of course, I offered to come see you."

"What a gentleman you are," Inuyasha grumbled, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"That's me indeed," Miroku smiled. "Well, shall we get going? We're meeting Hojo at three this afternoon."

Inuyasha's scandalized look was only met by his friend blinking innocently.

"Come on Inuyasha," he said, talking to him like he was a child, "go get dressed."

Looks couldn't kill, but if the man hadn't dodged the glass that Inuyasha threw forcefully at him, it could have done him quite some damage.

* * *

Kagome went back to the _Shikon_ , a bit defeated. She knew that such an investigation wouldn't be done in a day, she had never doubted that, but the fact that she had failed to get any interesting details probably indicated that this would be much more complicated than she had expected it to be.

Onigumo's paintings were famous for their 'curse', and she had therefore expected to be able to use some reliable articles on the subject. So far, however, she had only found sensationalist papers, and none of it could be exploited, in any way, shape or form. She had left, hoping to be able to talk to either Sango or her mother, but Sango was busy and her mom was apparently working on catching members of the Birds of Paradise.

On the one hand, it was a relief, since they were Koga's mortal enemies, but on the other, it would probably mean that it would take her a while before she could get informations from the police itself. Sango's father worked there too, sure, but he would never tell her anything. She didn't _really_ blame him for that, however it sure made her job harder.

With a heavy sigh, annoyed at having wasted half of her day only to have nothing come out of it, she slowly made her way inside of the building. She only came back because she hoped she would be able to talk to Hojo and that he would know… Well, _anything_ , at this point, but she hadn't been able to get in touch with him, which was strange.

Given how lucky she had been that day, he had probably left for somewhere without any mobile network. Without any informations from someone who knew their stuff when it came to art, Kagome was beginning to feel a bit disheartened.

She quickly shook her head and gave herself a soft slap on both cheeks. She could do this. It was only the first day. Sure, it would mean that she would spend half of her night surfing on sites where people would talk about how those paintings were demons' plans to take over the world, but it wasn't like she hadn't done that type of things before.

Plus, she was sure that Hojo would do anything in his power to call her back, because he just was that kind of guy. The thought made her smile fondly. Hojo and her were high school sweethearts. They had been separated for a few years now, but they had remained close friends, like they had been before they started dating. They had simply fallen out of love while they were in college. They hadn't really planned on working in the same place, but they both felt like they could count on each other. She had, actually, met Sango through Hojo.

Kagome stepped out of the elevator, still smiling. The art department was on the floor above hers. Said department was one of the smallest in the newspaper, with only two people working there. The other girl, Ayumi, was a friend of Kagome's as well. However, unlike her other friends, Yuka (culinary column) or Eri (theater column), she never insisted that Kagome and Hojo should get back together, something the young reporter was very grateful for.

She noticed Ayumi, standing against her desk, anxiously staring at a closed door, and waved at her. The movement got the curly-haired girl's attention, and she turned towards her with happiness and maybe a hint of relief.

"Kagome!" she exclaimed cheerfully. "What are you doing here? You never come to visit us."

Kagome chuckled and shrugged, knowing it was true.

"I have a few questions for Hojo. Is he…?"

Ayumi shivered and turned towards the door once more. Her voice was barely more than a whisper when she mumbled "He's giving an interview".

Kagome pursed her lips. Ouch. Hojo… Hojo was a great guy, he sure was, he just… Well, you could say he didn't have Kagome's social skills. He could be a bit awkward sometimes, and he had the hardest time when it came to reading between the lines. He was probably the nicest guy Kagome knew, though, and as long as people saw that, he never got any problem. But sometimes, people did mistake his nonchalant attitude for contempt, which it was definitely not. And given Ayumi's worried expression, the interviewee was probably the type of person to draw such a conclusion.

Except that Ayumi was as much of an airhead as Hojo, and Kagome wasn't completely sure she could trust her judgement. One of those days, she would really need to advise Kaede not to let these two work together, or at least not _alone_. If Yuka and Eri heard about it, she would never hear the end of it and they would call her jealous forever, though...

She sighed heavily, and Ayumi looked at her, slightly worried.

"Is everything okay, Kagome?" she asked gently.

"Hojo needs help, doesn't he?" the reporter asked back.

Ayumi grimaced and then nodded slowly.

"The man didn't seem too happy to be here," she admitted sheepishly. "And I heard yelling inside."

Kagome frowned. Maybe the guy inside was just a douche. If the timing wasn't right for him, he could have just pushed the appointment back. It wasn't exactly a complicated thing to do.

"Well, I guess I'll get in there, then. Oh, Ayumi, do you know anything about Onigumo's paintings?"

Ayumi gave her a thoughtful expression.

"They're not very interesting."

Now, this was new. Kagome tilted her head. She wasn't sure she understood. To her, paintings were pretty much all alike. She could enjoy one of Monet's pictures occasionally, but most of the time, she just didn't care.

"They often revole around the same theme…"

"Which is?"

"Fire. They often revolve around fire and people burning. They're very violent, but I don't think that there is much to them, other than the shock value, you know."

Kagome nodded thoughtfully. She could easily guess that to some people, to paint something shocking would be deemed revolutionary, but apparently it wasn't enough in Ayumi's mind. That would mean that the curse probably rose their value more than she had thought. She gave Ayumi a grin.

"Thanks. Well, I'll go save Hojo now, then!"

The fact that Ayumi didn't answer "But Hojo doesn't need to be _saved_ " in confusion like she had expected her to only made her worry a bit more.

* * *

The interview was a catastrophe.

That was the state of mind of both Hojo and Inuyasha — and for Hojo to actually _notice_ that things were not going well, it indeed took a catastrophe.

Miroku was sitting on a chair against a wall, and made absolutely no move to help his friend or the young journalist. He didn't remember ever having that much fun before, except with a lady naturally, and he didn't want to see it end so soon.

He had taken Inuyasha to the _Shikon_ , fresh out of the shower and dressed with whatever he had found in his dresser, which meant he was now wearing red baggy pants and an ample red coat. Hojo had bluntly told him that he usually made his interviews without anyone around, and Miroku had answered, just as bluntly, that he wouldn't miss this for anything in the world (with perhaps the exception of Sango asking him to marry her). He now had the hardest time containing his laugh, but oh boy, this was _so_ worth it.

He himself had met Hojo before, so he had expected things not to go smoothly — not that he had warned Inuyasha about it — but this… This was amazing.

At first, almost disappointed, he had thought that his plan wouldn't work. Hojo had welcomed Inuyasha warmly and hadn't taken offense in Inuyasha calling him 'Hobo'. Inuyasha had seemed to relax slightly at how open the young man was. That would have been a very saddening turn for the interview, at least in Miroku's mind.

However, that had changed because of how enthusiastic Hojo was being, and it only resulted in Inuyasha giving shorter and shorter answers. The interview was now at a standstill, and it felt like a long agony, with both of the men painfully trying to make their way through it.

Until Inuyasha snapped, only a few moments ago, and started answering questions extremely aggressively. At this rate, this would end with a murder.

At least, that was what he thought, until the door opened and a joyful Kagome stepped in.

"Hi there, Hojo!" she chimed.

Several things happened at the same time. Inuyasha turned towards the intruder with a growl, Hojo greeted Kagome with such relief it seemed she had just saved his life, which Miroku would probably say she had, and Miroku turned towards her, slightly surprised but all the more pleased by her interruption.

"Ayumi said you could use some _help_ with the interview," Kagome said, her eyes shining with mischievousness. "So, who is it you… Oh."

"Kagome," Hojo said, "let me introduce you to…"

"Inuyasha Taishô," she completed. "We met."

She gave Inuyasha a bright smile, before turning to greet Miroku as well. At that point, Inuyasha wanted nothing more than to run away and hide under a rock for the rest of his life. He was pretty sure he was blushing. If that was the case, Miroku would _never_ let him live that one down. He could consider himself lucky that the pervert was too busy openly flirting with Kagome to pay attention to him.

But then, once again, he felt his hands almost _itch_ with the need to draw her.

At first, after their meeting, he had forbidden himself from doing so, thinking he would just forget her as quickly as possible. Self-control had never been his forte though, and he had ended up sketching her on the back of the napkin on which she had written his speech. He hadn't been happy with how she looked like, though, and for the first time, he had wondered if his art would ever be able to replicate her.

By painting her, she would always, necessarily, be motionless, and that just felt wrong, when it came to this girl. Her energy, her life, it seemed to be made to be in motion. Slowly, he hadn't just _wanted_ to paint her, but he had started to view it as a challenge. She had plagued his mind more than once, and yet, he had never tried to call her. He still didn't think asking her to pose for him was a good idea and was still battling within himself on that one. He also didn't want to look like Miroku. He wasn't trying to paint her naked — though the idea wasn't exactly repulsing.

Oh, and then there was the fact that he had no clue on how to do it. Even if he had wanted to, which he kept repeating himself he didn't, he wouldn't have been able to. He wouldn't have known what to say or how to do it.

Yes, his best friend was the master when it came to that stuff, but he was not going to infringe the most important rule in his life, which was to not ask Miroku for anything, unless it was absolutely necessary.

And as he looked at her, he started to think that maybe, just maybe, it _would_ be absolutely necessary.

"The hell are _you_ doing here?" he asked, his voice rough.

Miroku shook his head and resisted the urge of smacking his forehead in despair. Fortunately, Kagome didn't seem to mind. She pulled a chair and sat down next to Hojo, glancing down at his notes.

"As I said, I'll be helping Hojo," she answered kindly.

"Keh! You don't know the first thing 'bout art, how are you supposed to do something like that?"

"Watch me," she simply said before looking up at Hojo. "Hm, is that it? How long have you been doing this?"

"An hour and a half," he said, seemingly on the verge of tears.

"Don't worry," she smiled, patting his hand reassuringly.

She then turned towards Inuyasha.

"So," she started, "what do you want me to call you? Is Inuyasha okay or would you prefer Mr Taishô?"

Saying that, she set her elbow on the table and rested her chin on her palm. Inuyasha felt himself blushing, once more, and cursed himself, once more. He was used to people disliking him. Before Kikyô, girls tended to give up on him quickly — he may have been hot and rich, but that wasn't worse handling his shitty temper. After Kikyô, he was the one who did his best to drive them away. However, he had never met anyone who made it so hard for him to do so.

"Mr Taishô," he still managed to growl, although, truth be told, he would have _loved_ to hear her saying his name.

"Good," she nodded without losing her smile. "Mr Taishô, your works were recently chosen to be in an exhibit at the Goshinboku. How do you feel about it?"

"'s not like it was my first time," he mumbled. Miroku could have punched him. Why exactly was he so much more of an ass with the lovely Kagome than he had been with Hojo?

"Of course not," Kagome replied with such confidence that no one could have guessed it was the first time she ever heard of that and without missing a beat, "but is it really all there is to it for you? Is it just another name on the list of museum where your work can be found, or does it change something for you?"

"W-well," Inuyasha mumbled, slightly taken aback by her assurance and the way her eyes didn't leave him, like he was the most interesting person in the world at the moment, "I mean, I don't paint for others. I paint for myself. It's nice if they like it, but it doesn't really change anything for me personally."

Both Hojo and Miroku rose an eyebrow. That was probably longer than all of the answers Inuyasha had given them so far, combined.

"I see," Kagome said, shifting slightly so that her chin was now on her interwoven fingers. "So what is painting about for _you_ , then? If it's not for the glory nor the money, what do you find in it?"

"I-I guess it's about… expression," Inuyasha stuttered, feeling a bit uncomfortable under all her attention. "There are things that you can't say with words. Or at least, I can't. So… Erm… Yeah. That's the only thing that matters to me when I paint. Saying the things I wouldn't be able to say with words."

Kagome nodded. Hojo was taking notes and the recording device was working. This should go well.

* * *

The interview felt much more like a conversation to Kagome. She followed the questions Hojo had prepared, but that didn't stop her from enjoying it. Inuyasha, on the other hand, was unable to relax. While it felt really nice, to have her actually paying attention to him and seemingly having fun, even cracking a couple of jokes, she was just doing her job. There was no way she could really be interested, was there?

Well, that was actually Kagome's secret to being so good with people: she _was_ interested. Most of the time, whatever it was that the conversation was about, as long as the other person was into it, it wouldn't be hard for her to feel the same. Even when she brought up more technical sides of Inuyasha's profession, ones she didn't really understand, she found herself doing her best to follow his answers.

Alright, so maybe there were a few times when his behavior almost got to her and she felt like punching him or at least retorting something snappy to him, but she managed to hold herself, and every time, a confused expression appeared on his face, followed by a sheepish look at her. It was almost like he was _trying_ to make her angry, only to feel sorry for doing so when she stayed perfectly composed.

She really didn't understand what was going on there, to be honest. Had it been her interview, or had she really been having a conversation with him, that would have been what she'd have tried to know. She found herself disappointed at having to follow Hojo's questions. Of course, it was his job, but if you asked her, the questions were boring. They were barely scratching she surface.

Hojo cared about the painter; she wanted to know more about the man.

What would it look like if she asked him out on a date right after the end of the interview? Would it be a bad thing?

Did she care?

Finally, she folded the paper on which Hojo had written his questions and handed it to him while leaning back on her chair and slightly stretching herself.

"Well, I think we're done," she said, smiling professionally at both Miroku and Inuyasha.

Inuyasha had expected relief to flood over him, and he was more than annoyed when not only it didn't came, but he almost felt disappointed. He couldn't believe he had let himself be so affected by it all. One, because he _shouldn't_ , and two, because it wasn't like she was _actually_ interested. He couldn't believe he craved someone's attention so much that he had been fooled by her act.

"Let's go, Miroku," he snarled.

The man sighed and stood up slowly. He grabbed Kagome's hand and kissed it, in a true seducer's fashion, before Inuyasha grabbed him by the back of his coat and yanked him back. The door slammed behind them and without further ado, they were gone. This caused Kagome to wrinkle her nose slightly, and then to sigh heavily.

There hadn't even been a goodbye, nor a glance in her direction by the man she would have _wanted_ to look at her.

"Thank God it's over," Hojo breathed out, causing her to laugh. It must have been really hard on him, if he was that happy now. "I don't know what I would have done without you, Kagome."

"Oh, don't worry about that, you're very welcome. As a matter of fact, I was there to ask you something…"

"Anything you want! I think I owe you at least that."

She opened her mouth to ask him questions about Naraku and Onigumo, but then she turned to look back at the now closed door. She bit her lip, glanced back at Hojo, yelling an "I'll be back in a sec", and ran out.

She sprinted towards the elevator, and cursed when she found it gone. But now that she had taken her decision, she was not going to let that stop her.

She quickly found the stairs, and started running down. She knew for a fact that you could beat the elevators, if you were going fast enough. By 'knew for a fact', please understand that her nineteen-years-old younger brother, Sôta, had raced them himself. She was far from being as athletic as he was, though, and despite being in fairly good physical shape, she was still huffing and puffing when she arrived on the first floor.

She saw the back of Inuyasha's long raven hair and Miroku's ponytail as they were exiting the building. She felt a tiny satisfaction at seeing she wasn't too far behind, but she still hadn't caught up with them.

 _Time to make a run for it, Kagome!_

* * *

Inuyasha had heard it. The sigh Kagome had emitted once he had left. He could have sworn it was a sigh of relief. Miroku, being only human, hadn't, of course, but if he had any doubt that she had been interested in him, that was enough to bring him back to reality.

Had he had his dog ears, they would have dropped with defeat.

He had walked inside the elevator with Miroku. The man had eyed him suggestively as soon as the doors had closed. "Kagome really is—"

"Say another word and I'll rip your throat."

He didn't sound like he was kidding and so, for once in his life, Miroku held his tongue.

They were walking out of the building when Inuyasha heard the steps of someone running. He turned, almost as a reflex, and could only catch Kagome when, as she hadn't expected him to stop, she crashed into him.

"What the hell's _wrong_ with you, woman?" he yelled, his hands grabbing her waist and helping her retrieve her balance before quickly releasing her.

She blinked at him. Was he really going to make her regret her decision only minutes after she'd taken it?

"Did we forget something, Kagome?" Miroku asked, his voice measured.

She glanced at him, and found herself blushing. The man's smile widened. Oh? Oooh.

"Fuck off," Inuyasha suddenly snarled at him.

With a sigh, Miroku did step back. Evaluating the distance he had put between them and judging he could probably still hear them if he didn't set his voice lower, Inuyasha leaned towards Kagome, towering over her.

She opened her mouth, not knowing what she was going to tell him — if she was going to lie because, after all, maybe he was too much of an ass for her, if she was going to ask him out, or whatever else she could do — but he beat her to it.

"I want to paint you," he blurted out.

This was probably a mistake, but if he could keep himself in check, he would, hopefully, get her out of his system and be able to go back to his life.

"Excuse me?"

"I want to paint you." He pulled a pen out of one of his pockets and grabbed her wrist. She was too surprised to protest when he started writing on it. "Call me when you're free."

There was a short silence, before he added, suddenly looking a lot more insecure and staring at his feet: "If you want to, that is."

"I'd love to," she answered immediately, her mouth moving without her mind having any say in it.

He seemed to get flustered at her answer, but it got worse when she added "It doesn't have to be naked, right?"

"W-what? N- I'm not… This… You don't need to…"

She would have _loved_ to stay and torture him a while longer, but she really needed to get those informations from Hojo.

"I'll call you."

He looked at her with suspicion, and she couldn't help but chuckle.

"I really need to go right now, but I promise I'll call you. _Mr. Taishô_."

"Don't fuckin' call me that, I—"

With a laugh, Kagome had turned back and ran towards the elevator. All Inuyasha could do was watch her go. Just while he was going to go back to torturing himself, he heard Miroku's snicker, and he suddenly remembered that the painter had been there the entire time.

Shit.

He was in for a very long day…

* * *

 _Alright, time for the plot to get moving! And also, of course, Inuyasha and Kagome meeting again, eheh. I've read many stories in which Hojo is Kagome's ex and turned out to be a jerk, but he always felt like a nice guy to me so I figured they could still be friends afterwards._

 _I hope you've enjoyed this chapter. Thanks to those of you who added the story to your following list! Please leave a review if you like the story so far!_

 _Dya._


	3. Girl with a Pearl Earring

Disclaimer: _Inuyasha's still not mine!_

Girl with a Pearl Earring

 _I should have put some make-up on_ , Kagome thought while she was waiting in front of Inuyasha's door, her breathing just a tiny, tiny bit too quick. She wished she could have prepared more, but she really hadn't had the time recently. Even in the taxi while coming here, she had been taking notes and trying to get things to _make sense_. She had failed at that so far.

Yes, it hadn't even been two weeks since she had started looking for informations, but she hoped she would have at least found a lead. She had only found dead-ends so far, and every time she discovered something new, instead of being able to add a new piece to the puzzle, it seemed to point at something completely different.

Her last conversation with Sango was probably the best example for that.

* * *

"Sorry, it's been a crazy week at the museum," Sango apologized when she dropped on the chair in front of Kagome.

The journalist chuckled. They had been trying to meet every day for the past few days, only to have Sango cancel at the last minute, or to have to refuse immediately. It was always like that when new art arrived at the Goshinboku, there were tons of arrangements that needed to be done, and apparently Sango was the only one who could do it.

"So," the director of the museum said after ordering enough food for a regiment, "I have about twenty minutes before I have to go back, Kags. You'd better make this quick if you want answers."

"Alright, I'll get straight to the point then. Kaede asked me to look into the Onigumo situation."

Sango seemed surprised. She crossed her arms and leaned back on her chair. Her brows furrowed and she gave Kagome a sharp nod, indicating she was listening to her.

"She thinks there's something really bad happening there, and she suspects Naraku's directly involved in it. I asked Hojo, but there wasn't that much that he could tell me. He's familiar with the paintings, and how expensive they are, but he didn't know much about the man himself."

"Well," Sango started slowly, waiting until after the waitress came to serve her salad and visibly picking her words carefully, "it's actually not that simple of a question to answer. Naraku came out of nowhere a few years ago. He's pretty recent in the market of art, and the fact that he's already managed to make a name for himself is quite impressive. Are you recording that?"

Kagome nodded. She was taking notes as well, but those were more focused on Sango's body language than her words. That was a habit of hers that came from back when she interviewed actors — newspapers loved to have some physical description —, a part of her job she was extremely happy she didn't have to do again.

Well, most of the time, at least.

"As far as I know, Naraku didn't exactly have an easy beginning," Sango continued. "Not prestigious enough. Things changed when he started to sell Onigumo's work. Onigumo was quite the sensation back then, but I honestly don't think it would have lasted if it wasn't for those curses. Since then, Naraku's specialized in selling… weird stuff. Lots of legally enchanted, and that's the same as cursed, paintings, lots of super violent stuff. Ever heard of Jakotsu? The Band of Seven?"

Kagome shrugged. Was that even a question? Sango sighed. She had clearly failed in her mission of getting her best friend into art. At least she could blame Hojo for it as well.

"Don't look at their work if you just ate," she simply said, wrinkling her nose in disgust. She herself had not much interest in violence for violence, particularly without purpose, but there were people out there who thought it was revolutionary and embracing the dark feelings inside of everyone.

She thought they should get a therapy and that if 'dark feelings inside of everyone' made 'everyone' want to sit on top of pile of corpses, people should be _concerned_ and not praising it. But hey, who was she to judge? There were quite a few of those painters' art at the museum. She did genuinely enjoy some of them, actually, but she was still deeply disturbed by the global impression of insanity that seemed to ooze from their paintings. It was still art though. Probably.

"Anyway, Onigumo's obviously the biggest name of the painters Naraku handles. You already know about the curse. Owners seem to get into weird accidents."

"Yeah, I actually started looking into that," Kagome said. "There are some paintings that don't have any dark stories attached to them. As for those that do, they were often owned by playboys known for living dangerously. I have… Two deaths in a car accident and one during a parachute jump."

"Huh. I had no idea. But then, I guess Naraku wouldn't brag about that. It kind of takes the terrifying-cursed-paintings' charm away."

"There are also old people who died a natural death or who fell down their stairs," Kagome added for good measure.

"That's still a _lot_ of deaths," Sango commented. "Isn't it?"

"I know that's what it looks like," Kagome admitted, "but among that demography it's not exactly a surprise. Correlation doesn't necessarily equal causation."

 _Well, except for Kikyô's death._ But that wasn't something she wanted to talk about just yet. It wasn't that she didn't trust Sango, far from that, however so far this story just didn't make sense, and she had made it a habit to make as many researches as she possibly could before sharing sensitive informations.

"…Off the record, Kags?"

Kagome quickly snapped out of her thoughts, threw a surprised glance at Sango, and turned off the recording device. She gave Sango a small nod, and the woman closed her eyes for just a second. Kagome didn't have the time to wonder too much about what that meant.

"You know about my brother. Kohaku."

Kagome's eyes widened and she nodded quickly to invite Sango to keep talking. Kohaku had been missing for a year when she and Sango had met. The wound was still fresh back then, and despite Sango being much more composed about it now, she knew it could still reopen easily. The boy was about Sota's age, and he had been missing for… God. Seven years now.

"I told you what people said. That he'd been kidnapped because my parents work for the police and everything, but no one ever asked for a ransom nor anything else. And that's the truth."

"But there's a but," Kagome completed.

"My parents were actually working on the Curse, back then."

Kagome could _hear_ the capital letter in her friend's voice, and she clearly didn't have to ask what Sango was talking about.

"Do you mind if I take notes?"

Despite the gravity of the moment, Sango smiled.

"Sure, it's not like anyone is going to be able to read you."

Kagome resisted the urge to stick her tongue out at her friend and started to write.

"There had been a death that my parents thought could have been murder. They didn't really think the painting had anything to do with it, but they didn't want to rule out that possibility. They kept it in the police station's vault at all times."

Sango gulped down as she pursued her trip down painful memories.

"I'm sure I told you, but Kohaku and I were at the station when he disappeared. My parents had actually taken the painting out so it would be analyzed by a specialist."

Kagome kept writing, but that didn't stop her from noticing Sango getting gradually paler. She could have offered her to stop, however if there was anything that could come out of this story, it would be for the best for the two of them, and they knew it.

"It was Onigumo's _Spider's Web_. It's… a really creepy painting, which shows people hanging from threads, all connected to a giant spider web. Anyway, Kohaku was in my mom's office, where the painting was. I was a bit late. When I arrived, the window was open… And Kohaku was gone."

Sango's breathing was trembling. She was obviously holding back her tears. Kagome moved to grab her hand and hold onto it tightly.

"He'd only been in there alone for a few minutes…"

"And did the expert analyze the painting in the end?"

Sango gave Kagome a knowing look.

"Everyone was panicked. He didn't get much time, but he did say there was nothing weird about the Spider's Web."

"Hmm. And no one thought that maybe…?"

"Well, the thing is, that's not what Onigumo's paintings are supposed to be doing, and mom and dad weren't exactly convinced by the Curse in the first place. Not to mention, with their job, it wouldn't be a surprise if someone tried to use their children against them."

Kagome sighed but nodded nonetheless.

"Of course, but then how did you come to…"

"Oh, I didn't," Sango said with a joyless laugh. "I guess I'm just willing to cling onto _any_ possibility that Kohaku is still alive out there somewhere and that he wasn't…"

Kagome squeezed her friend's hand tighter. It physically pained her to watch Sango go through all that again. Fortunately, they were almost done.

"Would you know by any chance where the painting is now?" she asked quietly.

Again, that sad, self-deprecating laugh.

"Yeah, I do. Right now, it's in Naraku's possession, but it should go up for an auction sale soon. I keep track of it at all times. It doesn't get more pathetic than that, does it?"

"There's nothing pathetic about it, Sango," Kagome said while putting her notebook, pen and recorder back in her bag. "I'm sorry I had to make you…"

"That's okay," Sango interrupted her. "Just… If you're investigating it, try to look into it, okay? I know it's probably stupid, and that I'm just not capable of accepting Kohaku's… disappearance, but if you can tell me without a doubt that the paintings have nothing to do with it, it would make me feel a lot better."

All Kagome could do was nod vehemently a few times and keep holding onto Sango's hand.

* * *

Kagome shook her head. This wasn't why she was here, although she could probably ask a few questions to Inuyasha as well, at least to know what he thought of Onigumo's paintings. She wished she could have told Sango about Kikyô's situation, however she didn't want to raise her friend's hopes by mentioning unusual stories connected to the paintings.

She cleared her throat as the door opened, firmly set on having a fun time without thinking too much about her investigation.

To her surprise, it wasn't Inuyasha but Miroku that stood there. He was wearing the long black coat she had already seen him in, and he flashed her a smile.

"Inuyasha's in the kitchen. First door on the left, behind the dining room. You two have _fun_ , alright?"

Kagome felt herself blushing like a teenage girl. She couldn't say that what Miroku was suggesting hadn't crossed her mind, but the way he made it sound was just… _dirty_. She took it upon herself to raise her chin in a slightly defiant way and to give him a cocky grin.

"Don't worry, we won't do anything you would."

She saw him raising his eyebrows in surprise and watched some sort of approbation in his eyes, but she didn't wait for him to retort and she stepped into the house.

The place was huge. When she had taken the taxi to come here, she had been surprised to find that it was quite far away from the heart of the city, which she rarely left. From outside, it looked like a small manor, and from the inside, it seemed like the occupant was definitely going for that feeling. It wasn't as much the marble staircase that started in front of her before dividing into two different flights of stairs and reaching the first floor at two different places, nor the rich decorations, not even the chandelier that hung from the ceiling.

No, what had Kagome frozen, her mouth wide open, was the huge painting right above the first set of stairs. It portrayed a beautiful woman with long, straight black hair, wearing a kimono. Her red lips were slightly parted, her skin was pale, and her eyes… Her eyes were so sad. The painting itself was very traditional, bringing Kagome vague memories of kings and queens' portraits. She wondered if Sango would have known about it.

Indeed, she would have. The painting, simply named _Izayoi_ , was Inuyasha's first portrait. Everyone who was familiar with current painters had heard of it. It depicted Inuyasha's mother. He had done the portrait when he was eighteen, when he had just started to make a name for himself, and he had bought it back five years ago, for quite a big sum of money.

That wasn't the whole story, of course. That said nothing of the fact that it was precisely while he was buying the painting for himself that he had met Kikyô, nor did it do justice to Inuyasha's months of work, trying to paint his mother by memory, always failing, and then finally finding one unique picture of her.

But Kagome had no idea about any of that, and so she just stood there for a few minutes, simply admiring it and wondering why it made her so melancholic to look into the woman's eyes. She looked away when she started to feel her throat tightening.

Following Miroku's instructions, she walked into the room in her left, the dining room. There was a long table, the kind she had only ever seen in movies. Maybe she should have asked Sango about Inuyasha as well, all things considered. She had never imagined that art could make someone that rich.

She went through the room, and found herself a bit surprised when she walked into the kitchen. While the other rooms were extremely classical and could have made her feel like she had just walked into the Renaissance, the kitchen was extremely modern, extremely white, and… quite messy. And, as indicated, Inuyasha was sitting there at a bar, eating what looked like his breakfast. Had he just woken up? It was _two in the afternoon._

"Hi," Kagome said, unsure of what exactly was expected of her.

"Same," Inuyasha mumbled after engulfing a mouthful of what really looked like cereals and milk. If there was one thing Inuyasha definitely wasn't, it was a morning person. The fact that his morning started after the first half of the day had already gone by didn't change anything.

Kagome stood there, facing him, for a couple of seconds before pulling a chair, or rather a stool, and sat down, a little awkwardly. That was not exactly the kind of welcome she had expected. Granted, she wasn't sure herself what she had expected, but this was still… Well, a bit unnerving. Inuyasha was almost a stranger to her. A stranger that she found very attractive and on which she knew several random informations, maybe, but a stranger nonetheless.

"'m almost done," Inuyasha muttered. "You can go wait in the living room. 's on the other side of the hall."

"Oh," Kagome said. "Um, sure."

She stood up again, slightly rearranged the white dress she was wearing despite not really needing to and walked out, not knowing whether she felt better that she wouldn't stay in this situation, or on the contrary, even more awkward due to being alone and having to wait for him somewhere inside the house.

Inuyasha watched her leave, and he could honestly have slapped himself for being such an asshole. He would have deserved it. He felt terribly uncomfortable and he wasn't sure whether this was a good idea or not, but he was still the one who had made the proposition. Kagome didn't have to be aware of his interior torment.

It had been extremely different the first time Kikyô had been there.

* * *

It was five minutes before two a.m., and Inuyasha was wondering if Kikyô would actually show up. He knew his question had taken her by surprise — how could it not? — and he feared that she had agreed in the spur of the moment. He had no idea yet that Kikyô never did anything 'in the spur of the moment'. The concept of spontaneity made no sense when it came to her.

There was a knock on the door at two a.m. exactly, and Inuyasha rushed to open it, his palms weirdly sweaty. And of course, there she was. Just as beautiful as when he had seen her the first time. He noticed that she was almost as tall as he was, and vaguely wondered if she modeled, but couldn't find an answer. He had never really cared for models, after all.

"Mr. Taishô," her voice greeted him coldly.

"You can call me Inuyasha," he answered hastily. When she pretty much glared at him, he gulped down. "…If you want to, that is."

Her dark eyes seemed to study him, to be able to read him perfectly. Finally, she nodded.

"Inuyasha. And you will call me Kikyô."

If he had been a dog, his tail would have been wagging.

Right now though, thankfully, he wasn't even _close_ from being a dog.

"If you will follow me…"

She didn't answer. He didn't know yet, but for Kikyô to agree to come here, or to allow him to call her by her name, it meant a lot. There had been an instant connection between them. In fact, Inuyasha had said, back then, that she was 'the one' — or he would have if there had been anyone he could have said it to.

Boy had he been wrong.

* * *

Inuyasha stood up and dumped his dishes in the sink. The maid would take care of it. Remembering Kikyô was making him nervous, but he had noticed that Kagome was, actually, smaller than Kikyô, which helped him feel a bit better about the situation, for a reason unknown to him. Probably because if he had been interested in her only because she looked like his ex, it would have been unbelievably creepy.

He quickly washed his hands before finally resigning himself to join Kagome. Maybe it wasn't too late to call the whole thing off? Sure, it would make him look like an douche, but perhaps it was for the best.

And then, he walked into what would have been the living-room if he didn't use it exclusively to paint, his eyes fell on Kagome, and he forgot any thought of cancelling. He _wanted_ to paint her.

She was examining the walls of the room, looking at paintings, none of which were his, holding her hands behind her back. She seemed curious, which he guessed came with the job. Though Kikyô had mentioned working as a journalist at some point, and she wasn't really curious. She liked her world to be well-ordered, and didn't want to look too deep into it in if there was a risk for that order to be disrupted.

She had stood in that very room, more than once, during the months when they had been together. She had also been in that room, on the night it all went wrong.

He had been incapable of coming in here for months afterwards.

He had to fucking stop thinking about Kikyô.

Kagome turned on her heels, and let out a small yelp when he entered her field of vision, which resulted in him raising an eyebrow. Really? She pressed her hand to her chest, chuckling at herself and breathing deeply.

"You scared the hell out of me! I didn't hear you coming!"

"Should've been paying attention," Inuyasha shrugged. "You know some of these?"

She didn't miss the small mockery in his voice, but she decided it wasn't mean-spirited and simply shook her head instead of reacting to it.

"Not really, no. Recently I've heard a lot about a painter, so I was looking at the signatures, but I can't seem to see it. You may have heard of Onigumo?"

She found herself to be a bit too sneaky about it. She wasn't expecting Inuyasha to give her any infos she hadn't known before, and it would have eased her conscience if she had asked in a less convoluted way. Oh well.

He walked in her direction and looked at the wall.

"Yeah, I quite like his stuff, actually. But I don't have any of his works here. Most of these were given to me as a gift, and if you've heard of him, you must have guessed why I wouldn't anything in my house."

"The Curse," Kagome said, imitating Sango's tone without really noticing it. "You believe that?"

"Let's say I have enough shit in my life not to want to risk it." Inuyasha said, his voice darker than usual. Kagome gave him a quizzical glance, but he seemed to be lost in his thoughts. When it became obvious that he wasn't going to get into the details, she stretched herself, and the movement made him snap out of it.

"So! How do we do this?" she asked. "I've never, you know, posed for anyone before. Well, I mean, for photographer friends who wanted to train, but I think that's really different. I'm not sure I'll be able to remain motionless for a very long time."

Inuyasha grinned. For some reason, he was quite sure she was right about that.

"Don't worry. It's the first time, so we'll take it easy. Today I'll be sketching you to find how I want to paint you."

Suddenly realizing what he was implying, he scratched his head. His stupid mouth, always going faster than his brain.

Hm, maybe his brain was the stupid one then.

"…If that's fine with you. If you don't want to then that's alright, I'll just work with the sketches."

"I think I wouldn't mind at all," Kagome said, her eyes full of malice. Had Miroku been here, he certainly would have noticed and wouldn't have missed his chance to comment on it. But Miroku wasn't here, and Inuyasha had no idea of how to interpret what the girl had said, far less what it was that was shining in her _beautiful_ blue eyes. Damn, if the phrase 'eyes are the window to the soul' was true, her soul had to be absolutely amazing.

Shit, he was staring. Catching himself, he quickly looked away, blushing vaguely, and Kagome felt her smile growing wider. There was something strange about Inuyasha, and in her opinion, strange meant interesting. That she could make someone who looked like _that_ blush was, honestly, a pretty nice feeling, but she decided not to tease him on it. Wouldn't want to make him run away just yet, right?

"Hm, should I sit here?" she asked, gesturing at the couch. As she walked towards it, Inuyasha's face darkened, but she didn't notice. The couch was the place where Kikyô had laid down during one of their last painting sessions. Naked.

For some reason, thoughts of a naked Kagome invaded his mind as his eyes followed her, and he willed them away with a frown. What on earth was wrong with him? He wasn't Miroku! But still, thinking of her taking off that white dress that showed just enough skin to want to see more…

Well, that was one more thing to add to the list of things he shouldn't be thinking about.

With a sigh, he walked around the couch. Kagome gave him a smile. She seemed to be a bit tense, sitting too straight, and that didn't suit her.

"Relax," he muttered as he sat on a stool, a big sheet of paper on his easel. "You just said so, this is going to take some time. So get comfortable."

How did he manage to say something nice while sounding like such a dick?

"Wow, thanks for suggesting it. Gee, why didn't I think of that?"

Inuyasha gave her a surprised look and didn't manage to fight back the grin that was creeping on his face. Kagome smiled back.

"You mind if I put my feet on the couch?"

He shrugged. In one quick move, she took off her shoes and laid her legs on the couch, leaning against one of the sofa's arms. She then turned to look at Inuyasha, and he started to draw.

It was a strangely intense moment. He was trying to keep the previously mentioned thoughts out of his mind, but it wasn't easy with her legs in display. Part of him couldn't help but compare her to Kikyô, and it almost surprised him how attractive he found her despite how different she was from his ex-lover. She wasn't built like a model, she was curvier, and she didn't have Kikyô's flawless skin, but it made her look all the more like a real person, instead of some beautiful wax doll.

He decided to focus on her face, and felt vaguely concerned with how he was going to manage to recreate her eyes. He would have to look for the perfect color, but that didn't worry him too much; instead, he wondered if he would be able to render how expressive they were. It would probably give him a hard time, but he wanted to try.

This was something he loved about painting. The challenge. This was what made it as fun as it was for him.

His eyes were now solely focused on her face as he did his best to transfer it to the paper. It was only a very first draft, but he knew that for his final work, he would need her to look like she could move at any point.

It had been very different with Kikyô, since he almost had the opposite intention with her. He wanted to be able to look at the painting and wonder whether she was an immobile human or a doll who could move. There was absolutely no way to wonder if Kagome was a doll. In fact, he wanted her painting to make him wonder how she could possibly stay frozen that long. He wanted to expect her to stand up and walk away at any point.

Kagome watched him watch her. She took in his eyes, noticed how they lingered on her legs in the beginning before focusing on her face. Regularly, his violet eyes met her blue orbs, but it didn't feel like he noticed it. It was odd, how he looked at her without _seeing_ her. She couldn't help but compare it to her job. She was supposed to see what was inside people's mind, and their appearance was only part of the picture, generally not the most important one. Inuyasha seemed to be only looking at her from the outside, but boy, no one had ever looked at her like that.

She was used to men's attention, even if she had only had one serious relationship. She knew that Koga's incessant flirting wasn't only due to her interior beauty, and that Miroku wouldn't have bothered trying to make Sango jealous by using her if he hadn't thought it could work (it didn't make it any less stupid, though). She had also used her 'charms' to get informations a couple of times, even though that was not something she liked. However, this was not the same. Inuyasha seemed to be _studying_ her.

She could see the way his eyes followed her lips before turning back to his drawing, and suddenly, she found the words to express why his look felt so intense. He looked at her like she was a work of art. Not like he wanted to make one out of her, like he already thought she was. Her lips parted slightly and her breathing caught in her throat. Was it just her or was it getting really hot in here?

Since he certainly was doing the same thing right now, she decided to examine him as well. She wasn't sure it would help her with her body temperature problem, but it felt like it would be a nice _distraction_. She didn't pay attention to her body language, tilting her head slightly to get a better look in what she would certainly have identified as seductive move. She doubted Inuyasha would recognize it as such.

She was right. Had she thought she knew everything there was to find out about him, she would have been far, far away from the truth — further than she could ever imagine at this point — but if there was one thing she was correct about, it was that Inuyasha was bad with social interactions. And flirting was part of that. That was probably what had attracted Kikyô's attention, back in the days. For someone to approach her as casually as Inuyasha had… It most likely made her feel like a regular person again.

Not that Kagome knew about that, or that she would have cared right now. Instead, she studied his slightly tanned skin, his violet eyes, the way some locks of his hair were escaping from his ponytail, and how the dark color contrasted with his white T-shirt. She thought that maybe she could do him the same courtesy he was, and keep her eyes on his face, but then decided that she had no reason to do that.

So she allowed her eyes to trail down to his toned chest. His shirt wasn't the skin-tight type, expect on his shoulders and arms, where it really showed off his muscles. She could only imagine that the rest of his torso was built in the same way.

Inuyasha may have been bad at reading people, but he was pretty sure she was ogling him right now. He didn't know how he felt about that. He knew he attracted some women's attention, but most of the time his awful temper drove them away quickly. Kikyô had been the only one he had _wanted_. He didn't know about Kagome, though. He would never have offered to paint her if she hadn't help him with his speech and hadn't appeared at his last interview.

He didn't know if he should be happy about it or not. It was too early to say.

But he was started to think he quite liked having her looking at him like that.

"Can I move?" she asked, and he realized he was grinning slightly.

"Yeah." His voice was gruffer than it had been earlier, but Kagome chose not to take offense. She was starting to think that that side of him was mostly a facade. One he wasn't too good at keeping up, actually, if you spent more than five minutes with him. Well, except if he was annoyed, apparently, she added mentally, remembering how the interview with Hojo was going before she arrived.

She laid down on the couch and put both of her arms around the couch's arm against which she was previously leaning, resting her chin on her hands, still staring at him.

Once again, Inuyasha's eyes darted towards her legs. One of them was now bent, and her left foot was dangling from the couch, causing her dress to go up slightly. He looked away quickly, trying not to listen to the part of him that was starting to get stronger and stronger and kept mentioning how _enticing_ her skin looked, and how soft it would probably feel if he got his hands on it. He cursed under his breath, convinced he was blushing, and went back to drawing with wide and imprecise lines.

When he cursed again, it was because of him, and much louder, causing Kagome to raise an eyebrow.

"Sorry 'bout that," he then mumbled, absolutely not apologetic.

Kagome vaguely shrugged. It always amazed her, how people kept assuming that she was this fragile little girl who would be shocked by something as simple as swearing. If she didn't have the stomach for it, she wouldn't have the job she had. But oh well, looking small and cute and like you needed to be protected had its advantages.

Plus, she did need to be protected. She _was_ pretty weak, physically speaking. She also had no knowledge when it came to fighting, and couldn't fire a gun for the life of her. As for the archery lessons she had taken when she was in high school, they were long behind her. Her strengths lay elsewhere. She was, for example, capable of destroying a museum director's reputation with only a series of articles and therefore clear the place for her best friend.

…That didn't sound right, but that museum's director was really a terrible person. She didn't make up any of what she had published. And Sango completely deserved the job. The museum was thriving since Sango had been put in that position.

"Do you mind if we talk?" she asked, feeling herself growing bored and shifting slightly because her hands were starting to get numb.

"'s not like I can stop you."

This was getting annoying real fast.

"I meant to ask if you would be capable of painting _and_ talking at the same time."

Oops. She hadn't meant to say that out loud.

Or maybe she had and she was glad she had. Well, it really was her concern, but she could have phrased it differently. It wasn't like her to be so… Honest? Let's say _direct_.

But Inuyasha only grinned at her cockily. This was new. This was Kikyô would never have done — he needed to stop comparing her to Kikyô when they were obviously two very different persons who merely shared a few physical traits.

"Well I wasn't sure _you_ could _pose_ and talk at the same time."

Kagome couldn't help but chuckle. It would take much more than that for her to feel insulted. It could, would probably have been fun to keep going on these grounds, but that felt a little too risky for a first date.

This was a date, right?

"So, this is quite the house," she commented, glancing around. "Do you really make that much money from your paintings?"

"The house's my brother's actually," Inuyasha answered, and Kagome couldn't exactly identify the emotion in his voice as he said that. "But I _do_ make that much money."

Kagome chuckled once more, and Inuyasha smiled at the sound. It was easy to talk to her, and he felt comfortable when she was around. Maybe… maybe she would become a friend. Maybe she would stick around, like Miroku had. He would like that. Friendship. A relationship was a terrible idea, something he couldn't and shouldn't do, but having more than one friend in his life couldn't be a bad thing.

And it would all be fine, because this wasn't a date, right?

"You live here with your brother then? This looks like a very big house for just two persons."

Inuyasha snorted. "Certainly not. He's never here, and I'm better off without him anyway."

"He must really trust you," Kagome sighed. "I wouldn't leave my _coat_ to my little brother." There was a silence, before she added "That's not true. Sota's perfectly capable of doing laundry."

Inuyasha felt a familiar pang of sadness in his chest. He had always envied other people's relationships to their siblings. Not that he would ever say it out loud, nor show it. It had been much worse when he was a kid, after his mother's death.

"You don't know him," he simply answered, his voice bitter.

Kagome stopped thinking about how Sota was actually a really nice and as reliable as a nineteen years old could be to look at him. She could tell something was wrong, but before she could ask, he stood up, putting his charcoal crayon back on the easel in quite a violent movement.

"Let's call it a day," he said, reaching behind his head to take off the hair elastic that kept his black locks up. He shook his head as the hair fell, and Kagome didn't pay attention to her mouth as it treacherously dropped open.

Inuyasha ran his hand through his hair, satisfied to feel them finally free. He always tied them when he drew or painted, but it was a pain. He eyed Kagome, who hadn't stood up yet. She was looking at him with wide eyes.

"Something's seriously wrong with you," he said with disbelief.

The girl caught herself, blushed furiously and got up on her feet, quickly rearranging her dress, a movement which he couldn't help but follow. She glanced at him while doing so, vaguely confused. This could be a way of rejecting her softly, by not taking the occasion to flirt and not showing any interest in her. This could also be just another proof that he was terribly bad at interactions, but no one could be _that_ bad, right? Especially no man in his late twenties who looked like Inuyasha did.

Except that Inuyasha had a very good reason not to get close from anyone, and that Kikyô would never have flirted openly with him, far less be caught admiring him.

So he actually was that bad.

He moved his head, inviting her to follow him, and they walked silently to the door. Kagome quickly slipped outside. Her cheeks were still burning and she couldn't bring herself to meet Inuyasha's eyes. Which he noticed, but couldn't interpret.

"Well," she said. "Um. Thanks?"

He frowned. What for?

"We should do this again," she added.

"Yeah, obviously, I didn't even started painting you."

She gave him a weird look.

"Okay, well… I'll call you? Or you'll call me? Do you still have my number?"

She could have sworn his ears were reddening.

"I do, but call me. Let me know when you're free. Bye."

And with that, he closed the door.

Kagome stood there, frozen, for a few moments. At least she hadn't had to worry about whether they should kiss or not. Seriously, the guy kept sending mixed signals, and she wasn't sure he was even _aware_ of it.

She turned around and remembered she didn't have a car. Well, looked like she was going to have to walk to the bus stop. Great.

With a sigh, she started to get going, grabbing her phone in her pocket.

She had eight missed calls from Koga, in the hour and a half she had spent with Inuyasha.

Huh. What the hell…?

* * *

 _Here you go! Lots of Inukag moments in which Inuyasha is confused (there will be more development as to_ why _he is the way he is by the way), more plot coming into place, and Koga's apparition._

 _I hope you've enjoyed the chapter! Thank you so much to those who reviewed the last one, honestly that's one of the best motivation to write more! Please leave a review if you like the story or if you have constructive criticism!_

 _Dya._


	4. The Blast

_Disclaimer:_ _Nope, don't own it._

* * *

The Blast

It only took one look at Koga's face for Kagome to understand that something was wrong. Very wrong. There was also the fact that he didn't grab her hands and didn't make a passionate declaration of his undying love for her. In any other circumstances, she would have felt relieved, but right now, it only made an icy feeling spread in her chest.

"What happened?" was the first thing she asked when she was close enough to talk to him. For once, she was the one who took his hand in hers, just to show some support.

Koga shuddered, which was more than unusual, and he simply squeezed her hand lightly, before his fingers became limp.

"They're all dead," he finally answered. His voice was thick, he seemed unwilling to let the words leave his mouth. It took a second for Kagome to understand what he was talking about.

"Your tribe?" she questioned, slowly, her voice filled with disbelief. The Wolves were considered a gang by most people, but to Koga and to most demons, they really were a tribe. They refused to comply with modern society's new rules, which sometimes made things a lot more complicated for them. Kagome had been part of a team which had made a report on them, a couple of years back, gaining them a bit of popularity among the public. That had been how her and Koga had met. And now his tribe had been…

"The men," he replied, nodding numbly. "There were rumors, about ways to gain power. I refused to go, but most of the warriors left. Women, children and elders are still around but all of them are…" He stopped, visibly unable to keep going. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, all under Kagome's attentive look. "The only warriors left are Ginta, Hakkaku, and me," he concluded, his voice a low rumble that vaguely reminded her of Inuyasha.

She could have slapped herself for that last thought. Now certainly was not the moment, and she had just left the guy, dammit! Sure, he looked _very_ good, and he was interesting, arousing her curiosity a bit more every moment she spent with him, but, but… But not _now_.

"Do you have any idea of…?"

"We found the bodies," Koga said. "That's why I called you. Figured it would be better if you took a couple of pictures or whatever it is you'd want to do."

She gave him a surprised look. Letting go of his hand, she tilted her head to the side, slightly confused. "I'm not part of the police, Koga. They're the ones you should have called." Realization hit her and she looked at the warehouse behind him with horror. "Wait, you mean the bodies are still in here?"

"Oh come on," he scoffed, rolling his eyes, "human police? What are they gonna do? They'll probably just think they'll be safer without my Wolves around. And demons don't cooperate for that stuff. If you die, you're weak. But that stuff in here… It's sick. Even for a demon."

Kagome shivered. She wasn't sure she wanted to see that. She had a strong stomach and she had seen her fair share of violent crimes, during her years as a journalist, but demon murders tended to be… graphic, to say the least. Not that human ones couldn't be. She remembered quite vividly a human killer who had tried to disguise his crimes that way.

"I'll follow you," she said bravely, despite the disgust she could already feel building inside of her. "I'm guessing you already picked up the scent."

"Yeah. Leaded no where. It's like it just vanished," Koga mumbled as he opened the door.

Kagome walked inside, immediately noticing the smell of blood. Her senses were far from being as sharp as those of a demon, but in such a quantity, it would have been impossible not to. She covered her mouth and nose with her hand, looking for the body. She almost felt relieved when she noticed how… clean they were.

It looked like they had been dismembered with a big, extremely sharp blade. Examining the bodies, she quickly understood that such a blade was… well, a physical impossibility. Which, indeed, screamed 'demon murderer'. She looked back to Koga who was observing her expectantly.

"I'll call Shippo. You don't mind if—?"

"Sure," he nodded. "Bring the kitsune into it. It's not like my day can get any worse."

She gave him an apologetic look before dialing her friend. Koga and Shippo were not friends, to say the least. They had all met and became acquaintances during the same report. It was Shippo's very first job, he was fresh out of college, and, well, being a demon, he hadn't expected to get a job so quickly. Demons weren't exactly discriminated against, they just tended to stick to their own, while humans did the same. Everybody minded their own business and, with the exception of the few half-demons out there, who were caught in the middle of an uncomfortable status quo, everything was just fine that way.

It was more complicated for Shippo, though. He had lost his parents at a very young age and had been raised mostly by humans. Kagome knew for a fact that it hadn't been a pleasant experience, but she also knew he despised most demons for their cruelty. He had constantly butted head with Koga, probably partly because of her, which had been highly unpleasant. Two males fighting for her. Great. Not that Shippo saw her as anything like _that_ , but the fight for dominance was only natural between two powerful demons. Adding a woman in the mix just made things slightly rougher.

Kagome had even had to go on a date with Koga to save Shippo from a duel with him — long story. Since then, Koga and her were basically friends. She knew he'd gladly take more if she offered, but their current situation wasn't a problem for him either. She was more of a fun pastime than a genuine interest for the wolf.

"Hey Shippo? Yeah, it's Kagome. Listen, I have a big, big favor to ask of you…"

* * *

The few days following the murder of most of Koga's group were awful. Kagome, him and his two most faithful warriors all tried to look for informations, but were met with absolutely nothing. No one had heard, nor seen anything, which, in Kagome's experience, was simply _impossible_. However, they couldn't find anything. Anywhere. They hadn't even been able to find out where the wolves had gotten their informations from in the first place.

When Sango called her, late, Kagome had pretty much forgotten everything about her first investigation. It took her a few moments to understand what exactly her friend was talking about when she informed her that 'Naraku would be at an auction tomorrow night'.

"What? Oh. Oooh. Right. Is it a private one?"

" _It is, but I can take you with me. That way, Miroku would stop bugging me about going together._ "

Kagome giggled.

"Funny, I thought Miroku was precisely not the type to leave us alone if there were two of us."

" _Gosh, Kags_ ," Sango protested, only making her laugh a bit more, " _you're unbelievable. Oh, and I asked mom and dad for infos on Koga's situation, but they have nothing._ "

Kagome sighed loudly. It felt wrong how right Koga had been when he had said humans wouldn't care about the massacre. Made her feel almost ashamed for her species, even though she knew most demons didn't want humans to meddle in typical demon problems.

"It's crazy that no demons are hired in the police forces. Their nose or hearing would be super useful. Not to mention their strength and their various powers…"

" _I don't know, Kags. I don't think people would feel safe and I'm not even sure their senses are receivable in court._ "

"People being morons doesn't excuse the government not taking action," Kagome mumbled, clearly irritated. There was an embarrassed silence, which annoyed her, but she knew Sango's opinions were slightly different from hers. It probably couldn't be helped, though, given the education she had received — her family came from a long line of demon slayers, back when it was still a thing. Sango wasn't racist, though, actually understanding demons much better than most people. She simply wasn't sure how much coexistence was possible between the species.

" _So, I'm picking you up tomorrow?_ " Sango asked.

"Yeah, sure," Kagome answered, guessing her friend wanted to change the subject. This was how their conversations on the subject usually ended. "When? Oh, wait. What am I going to wear?"

It was Sango's turn to giggle. " _It's going to be okay, Kagome. Formal. Not the dress you were wearing at the inauguration, though, but I guess a skirt would do it._ "

"Well, what will you be wearing?" Kagome asked, already standing in front of her closet and frantically rummaging through it.

" _A black suit, I guess_ ," Sango answered, and Kagome could practically _hear_ her shrug through the phone.

"Oh, and you're going to try and make me believe that you want Miroku to leave you alone?" Kagome teased. "Honey, do you have _any_ idea how gorgeous you look in a suit?"

" _I told you, Kags. I like Miroku, but there's no way I'll start any form of relationship with him if I think he'll cheat on me, which I do. And if it takes me looking dashing in a suit for him to change his ways, that's fine by me._ "

"That makes me feel weirdly proud of you, you know. Don't take his shit. Still have no idea what I'll be wearing though."

Sango smiled and shook her head.

" _Alright, I get it. Want me to come by and help you before we go?_ "

"I thought you'd never offer!"

* * *

Inuyasha's phone was ringing, and it was getting fucking annoying. It was close to midnight, which wasn't really late for him, and he was painting. He had worked on his sketches of Kagome earlier, but everything he did without her felt terribly unsatisfactory.

Or maybe being without her was what felt unsatisfactory, but he couldn't allow himself to dwell on that thought. He knew what he was getting himself into when he had asked her if he could paint her, didn't he? He knew it was just meant to get her out of his system, to indulge his dumb interest in her before moving on.

He wasn't completely sure it was working, though, but it was all her fault. If it hadn't been for those beautiful, bright, sparkly blue eyes, and if she didn't smile at him the way she did, and if her voice hadn't been so soft, and if she hadn't shown any interest in him, then he would have been fine.

Fuck, who was he kidding?

He grabbed the phone in an angry movement. He had been working on another piece, since apparently he couldn't get anything done, but even that wasn't going so well. He felt like he was wasting his evening, and that really angered him. Not to mention, that freaking phone ringing was seriously getting on his nerves.

When he read the name of the caller, his grip on the phone tightened. Luckily, he wasn't strong enough right now to crush it. The thought got him glancing over at the moon. He kept track of the next new moon, of course, but seeing it shrinking in the sky seemed to stress him out even more.

"Yeah?"

" _I've been calling for half an hour, Inuyasha_ ," his publicist's stern voice said. He could tell there was a hint of annoyance there, and for that impassive bastard, that meant a lot. Despite himself, Inuyasha tensed. He couldn't believe that even now, after all this time, even while knowing perfectly that he would never be anything but a disappointment to that man, part of him still felt bad about it.

"I was painting," he still answered, burying that emotion deep inside of him like he always had. "Not my fault if you can't remember my schedule." His voice was more bitter than he'd meant for it to be. It wasn't like he _wanted_ the guy to remember it, or to show any interest in his life.

Not anymore, at least.

" _I guess you're right_ ," Sesshomaru's still emotionless voice said. " _I will be in town tomorrow for the auction. You will be there too._ " As always, Sesshomaru didn't ask. He gave orders. Inuyasha took a deep breath. He hated going to auctions. He hated being in public.

"Fuck no, I'll…"

" _Inuyasha. I demand your presence. We will be meeting with Totosai, and he has insisted on you being there._ " There was a silence. " _I can't fathom why he'd want that either._ "

"I'll be there," was Inuyasha's response, muttered with a deep voice, before he hung up on Sesshomaru. It was always like this. He knew he should have been grateful to Sesshomaru for taking him in right after his mother's death, but there was no way he could forgive or forget what had happened since then. There hadn't been a day that had gone by without him feeling how much Sesshomaru despised him. Sure, he wouldn't let him die on the streets, but that hadn't stop him from calling him their 'father's mistake', or a 'human disgrace'.

The worst part had probably been when he had called him an animal. You didn't get a much worst insult for a demon, at least for someone who was supposed to be a high-ranking one. Low-level demons were animalistic, but powerful ones had much more control on their instincts. The main difference between demons and humans, apart from eventually their appearance and their power, was indeed their connection to their instincts, as opposed to humans connection to emotions.

Demons' contact to their emotions was far less powerful, just like most humans didn't really have much instinct left. That sometimes made it very hard for the two species to understand each other. Demons were bad with empathy, humans were bad with honesty, or pretty much just listening to themselves.

Inuyasha was in the middle of all that, and it was a pretty shitty situation. He was mostly human, or rather, human most of the time, but his demon side was never _completely_ gone. The thing was, thought, that he had understood that being human was bad. Being human got him hurt. Because he would never be _really_ human. And then there was his demon side, of course, which was downright terrible most of the time, at least according to his human side.

There just never seemed to be a correct middle ground. Maybe it was because of how he had been raised, thinking that being half human was a disgrace to his entire family. No doubt that, had he been raised by humans, they would have told him the opposite.

He hated people. He hated the society he lived in, which seemed to close its doors to people to him. He hated Sesshomaru. He hated people who had made him thought he was okay, before rejecting him once they knew.

He looked at Kagome's sketches.

This was why he couldn't let himself get any closer to her.

He just needed to remember that.

* * *

"Yeah, I think that should be alright," Sango finally said, critically looking Kagome up and down.

Kagome shot her friend a dark glance. She hadn't been able to see herself since Sango had arrived, and her friend had basically played doll with her ever since. She was bitterly regretting not knowing her when she was still in high school, because she was sure she would have made her look amazing for prom.

"C'mon, look at yourself," Sango urged her, the excitement in her voice betraying her when she had tried to sound almost bored just before. Kagome couldn't help but giggle. It was always fun to do that stuff with Sango. It made her feel like a teenager all over again.

God, she talked like an old woman. It wasn't like those years were actually that far behind, but they certainly felt like it.

Finally seeing herself in the mirror, she couldn't help but smile. She always thought she looked childish, no matter what she was wearing. She did, sometimes, manage to look vaguely sexy, in her opinion, but there was nothing she could do about her face's round form which always reminded her somewhat of a baby, but Sango had done a great job in making her look like… Well, like an adult.

Maybe it had something to do with the high heels she was wearing, too. 'Not more than two inches or you'll fall, but just enough to change your silhouette,' Sango had said with a decisive tone. Kagome hadn't argued that she would probably fall anyway, but boy, had she thought it. Coupled with the black shoes, she was wearing a skirt that circled her knees and thighs, but with a slight split coming up a little higher. For her top, Sango had gone for an elegant white shirt which she thought nicely complimented her friend's figure. It wasn't skin-tight, but the natural creases caused by her breasts still made it pretty much impossible for someone to ignore.

Revealing, but looking like one wasn't actively trying to reveal anything.

Sango thought she had done a good job. As for herself, she knew that she looked good in a suit. She had always had a rather boyish style, even though she had been forced to abandon it while she pursued her carrier. Men often felt threatened by a masculine woman (they also felt like a feminine woman couldn't get anything done, but that's another discussion). Now, without much to risk given how current status, she felt freer in her choices.

"I look _good_!" Kagome commented, her voice sounding both surprised and pleased. She spun around to look at herself from different angles. Sango shook her head at the words.

"You always look good, Kags. How bad did Hojo make you feel, if you can't seem to believe that?"

"Hojo treated me great," Kagome protested, rolling her eyes. "You know he would never be anything less than perfect. It's just that, well, my love-life has been lacking ever since we broke up. Not that I particularly regret what we had, I'd just… like it if _something_ happened."

She did hope 'something' was happening with Inuyasha, but she didn't pipe a word about that to Sango. Her friend tended to get pretty territorial about that stuff, and the last thing she needed was Sango doing a complete background check on him and telling her what kind of porn he watched.

Yes, it had happened before, and while she didn't have anything against porn, some particularly disturbing video titles had definitely been something she'd held against one of the last men she had dated. She appreciated that Sango worried about her, and she knew she probably couldn't help it, given both what had happened with Kohaku and her family — her mom was quite likely to have done something like that to her before — but sometimes she just wanted to see people. Maybe learning weird stuff about them wouldn't matter if they were in a relationship.

"Yeah, Hojo's always perfect, isn't he? That was part of the problem, right?"

"Ugh, right. I feel terrible for criticizing him since we're still friends," Kagome grimaced, "but… you're right. I think Hojo's a great guy, and he's a friend I know I'll always be able to rely on, but he wasn't right for _me_."

"He's boring," Sango stated, grabbing her coat and handing Kagome her own. "There's nothing wrong with that. Last time I saw him he mentioned an Ayumi, though. Anyone you know?"

"Ayumi? Sure, she's the girl who works with him! Oooh, I knew she had a thing for him! I'm sure they'd be very happy together."

Sango chuckled quietly at her friend's enthusiasm. Actually, Hojo sounded a bit lukewarm about it. She was pretty sure he still had somewhat of a crush on Kagome, but at least now she would be able to give him advices without worrying about it. _She_ certainly thought that Kagome and Hojo weren't right for each other, but had Kagome wanted to get back with him, she would have helped her without thinking twice about it.

"How far's the auction?" Kagome asked, oblivious to her friend's thoughts.

"It's a fifteen minutes drive, we'll be just fine. I'm parked downstairs."

Kagome froze. "Surely, you can't mean…"

"I mean my _car_ , Kagome, don't worry. Although I don't remember you complaining about Kirara before…"

"I love Kirara as much as you do, Sango, but I'm never climbing on her with a skirt or a dress again. Ever, ever again."

"My poor baby," Sango sighed, shaking her head. "You're lucky she can't hear you."

"Sango, I hate to be the one to break it to you, but Kirara's a motorbike. She doesn't have feelings, and I'm not hurting them."

"Wow, I'm going to have to tell her you didn't mean any of that. I can't believe you're disregarding her that much when she's been such a good friend."

"You're unbelievable."

"Thank you!"

* * *

Sango and Kagome arrived while other people were starting to find a seat, causing Sango to smile. It was always a question of finding the right timing. She greeted several people, occasionally introducing them to Kagome, but her friend wasn't really focused on what was going on. Her eyes had effectively scanned the crowd the second she'd walked in, and the second she had found Naraku, she hadn't let him go.

She was subtle about it, naturally, she wasn't just blatantly staring, but that was still the only thing she cared for, for now. She knew that Sango couldn't just walk towards him, since they weren't really on good terms, but that she would still have to give him her salutations. When Sango finally made her move, Kagome simply followed her. She didn't pay much attention to her surroundings, and that was probably the reason why she didn't notice when she brushed against the back of tall man with long, black hair.

She didn't notice either the way he tensed and how he turned, confused by the scent he had just smelt. She didn't notice either the way his eyes saddened as they followed her, or how confused he seemed. She certainly didn't see the way the man next to him, about his size and with long, white hair, cleared his throat, glaring at him reprovingly.

Inuyasha looked away from Kagome and focused on the man who was facing him and his brother. Sesshomaru had called him Totosai, and the (very, very) old man was apparently a demon. At least, with demons, people didn't ask for the last name. Many of them were around at a time when people didn't _have_ last names.

Still, as far as he was concerned, that dude seemed completely useless. He wasn't just old, he was fuckin' senile, and he couldn't focus for more than a few seconds. He had even called Inuyasha by his _mother's_ name at first. Sure, his hair was pretty similar to hers, but he still didn't look feminine at all! Seriously, thinking Sesshomaru was a woman would have made sense, but _he_ was very manly, thank you very much.

"You wanted to talk to Inuyasha," Sesshomaru repeated for the fourth time, completely unperturbed by how the other demon either ignored him or didn't seem to hear him.

"Right, right," Totosai said, and it might have looked like this was going somewhere, but he had already said it once, and then had proceeded to babble about their father for way too long. Inuyasha was getting tired of that. He had never even met the guy. He just knew that apparently, he cared too little to make sure he wouldn't have a son who'd suffer from being half-human. Not that he would ever say something like that to Sesshomaru, not again. His brother had a tendency to forget his body was basically human.

"Do you still have Toga's sword, Inuyasha?"

This time, Inuyasha almost jumped, and his eyes widened when he looked at the old man. The guy's giant eyeballs were still quite disturbing to look at, but his tiny pupils were focused on him.

"Tetsusaiga," he answered. "I do. Would you know anything about…"

"The sword is useless," Sesshomaru interrupted him. "I can't hold it, and in this human's hands, it's just a rusty piece of metal."

Something glinted in Totosai's eyes, and the man grinned.

"Just because you cannot use it, does not mean the sword is useless, Lord Sesshomaru. Your father wanted it that way. He did his best so that Inuyasha would have as peaceful a life as he could manage."

Inuyasha scrutinized the man before him, paying a lot more attention to him than he had since the beginning of the conversation, but that didn't help him in any way.

"Hm," Sesshomaru said.

Inuyasha glanced at him. There were some things he had kept secret from his brother, some things he didn't want him to know, and he suddenly feared that this conversation had divulged more than he wanted to reveal. Sesshomaru, however, was looking at the entrance, a light frown on his usually calm face.

"What is it?" Inuyasha asked, looking in the same direction but without noticing anything strange or worth noting.

"Nothing that you could smell, certainly," Sesshomaru answered calmly, paying no attention to the way his brother clenched his fist and gritted his teeth at those words. "The auction is about to start. We should find ourselves seats. Are you finished, Totosai?"

Totosai examined Inuyasha for a few seconds, before nodding. He wasn't sure he liked the boy quite yet. Maybe he had waited more to contact him than Toga would have wanted him to, but he just hadn't paid any attention to the time, forgetting about the 'part human' nature of the kid. He felt like just a few moments had passed, and yet his dear friend had passed away nearly thirty years ago.

He sighed as people around him walked into the room. He would have liked to run away now, but Sesshomaru wasn't going to let him off the hook just yet.

"So, Totosai. Have you considered that sword project I talked to you about?"

He would need all his talents to get him out of here. Alive, if possible.

Inuyasha followed the two men wordlessly. His eyes searched for Kagome, and he relaxed slightly when he found her, immediately cursing himself for that. He barely knew the girl, what was wrong with him? He then noticed the man she was talking to. Tall, with a tan skin, and his hair up in a short ponytail, which revealed his pointy ears.

Demon. He sniffed. His nose was not as good as Sesshomaru's, granted, particularly in this form, but he still noticed the smell of wolf, and had to hold back the growl that instantly built in his chest, as an instinctive reaction.

The guy was a full demon.

Inuyasha angrily pushed his hands in his pockets. This evening fucking sucked.

* * *

Of course, nothing had gone as planned. Kagome thought she should try to get used to that, since that seemed to be the way things worked since the beginning of this investigation. She hadn't expected it to be easy, she never did, but this time, it felt like everything that could possibly go wrong had decided to do just that.

It had looked as if things were okay, since as soon as Naraku had noticed them, he had worked towards them with a smile. He had first greeted Sango, his voice dripping with sugar, and once again, when he directed his attentions towards Kagome, the young journalist felt herself disgusted. This time, though, she did her best to dissect his attitude. She had no intention of asking him questions that could make him suspicious. It was way too early for that.

She didn't have much time, though. She had just started to think that really, the way he looked at her was _weird_ , when Koga seemingly came out of nowhere, glaring at Naraku.

"Listen, I dunno who the _fuck_ you are…"

Naraku's face completely changed as he looked Koga up and down before slowly smirking in a way Kagome would almost have described as 'knowingly'.

"You are the leader of the Wolf tribe," he said, lightly bowing his head. "I've heard about what happened. What a _tragedy_."

There was nothing insulting in his words, but his tone was full of mockery, and Kagome barely had the time to jump in before Koga went directly for the man's throat. He, however, froze when she appeared in front of him. It looked like he hadn't noticed her before, and given how easily he usually spotted her scent, it must have meant his anger truly was clouding his judgement. She eyed Naraku quickly. What…?

"Kagome," Koga grunted. "What are you doing with this fucker?"

She quickly turned back towards him. His eyes were flaming with rage, and it was possibly the first time that she actually felt afraid of Koga. Instead of taking a step back, though, she carefully put her hand on his arm.

"This man is the owner of an art gallery here. He also sells painting. Koga, why…"

"I will see you inside," Naraku said, his voice like silk.

"Wait," she protested, "could you…"

But Naraku was gone, disappearing into the crowd. Kagome cursed under her breath. Sango glanced at her and opened her mouth to offer to find him, but Koga was quicker.

"Move, Kagome. I'm going to find him and _crush_ …"

"Certainly not, Koga!" Kagome hissed. "What did you think you were doing? What has that guy even done to you? And how did you even get in here?"

Koga stared at her for a second before rolling his eyes. Humans and their nose, seriously…

"It's his smell. I know it is. Well, it's not _exactly_ his smell, but close enough. He's the one who murdered my tribe. Also, I just jumped in the building. There was no one watching."

"Didn't you say you couldn't find the scent anywhere?" Kagome asked, her brow furrowed in confusion.

"It reappeared tonight," the wolf demon shrugged. "Now move, Kagome."

"I'm _not_ going to let you do anything. What do you think is going to happen to you if you _murder_ a human in front of so many witnesses?"

"You think I care? I have to avenge…"

"You have to protect the rest of your tribe, Koga." At that, he fell silent, and Kagome took a deep breath. If she could stop him from self-destructing, she would consider she had not wasted her night. "Sango, was Naraku out of town?"

"No," the woman answered, shaking her head. "I haven't heard of that. I mean it could be, but…"

"Koga, didn't you say the murderer was a demon? Isn't Naraku human?"

Koga stopped to think for a second. "That guy's weird," he finally said. "I think he's human, but if he was a demon, he would have the same scent as that fuckin'…"

"But it can't be him," Kagome interrupted him as firmly as she could, despite starting to seriously reconsider the entire situation. "If he's human, it can't be him." _Probably._ "Listen, Sango and I have to go, and I don't think it's a good idea for you to come in. I'll call you tomorrow, alright?"

He grumbled something, and left without another word. Kagome sighed loudly. She moved her hand to run it through her hair, but Sango stopped her. She had taken care of said hair, and Kagome was not going to ruin her efforts now.

"You know interesting people," she commented, looking in Koga's direction.

"Tell me about it. Koga's a great guy, but he's got his temper."

"Yeah, you mentioned that once or twice." Sango chuckled at the dark look Kagome shot her. "Let's get in, Kags."

The two women walked into the room. Many people were already sitting, but they managed to find two seats next to each other. Sango received another few surprised salutations. She never came to that sort of things, usually sending someone to do it for her. Since she was coming tonight, she had freed her employee. She didn't know what Kagome was looking for exactly, but she trusted her to do it on her own.

Kagome wasn't too sure what she was looking for either. She couldn't find Naraku, no matter how attentively she looked at the crowd. She did, however, notice Inuyasha, and that surprised her. She had to resist the urge to immediately check herself in a mirror. She had no idea he would be there tonight. Had he not seen her either? Or maybe he'd seen her with Koga and had decided not to join… She couldn't blame him for that, really.

The auction turned out to be pretty boring for her. Sango had gone in her working mode and couldn't be distracted — not that Kagome would actually try. Or maybe she would, if this went on for much longer.

Onigumo's paintings were announced and Kagome immediately snapped back to attention, with the help of Sango's sharp elbow hitting her ribs.

There were three of them, two of which were already known from the public. They were bought by a young man with an arrogant smile, who Sango identified as Kao, a flower demon with a bad reputation, and the other by a woman who called herself 'princess Abi', another demon. Kagome wrote their names down. She mentally kicked herself for not having looked more attentively at the buyers for Onigumo's art. The deaths mostly concerned humans, so she hadn't paid much attention to the demons, but if they bought these more often because they were less frightened by the supposed curse, she definitely should have.

The bitter taste of disappointment filled her mouth. Disappointment with herself. Was that some form of unconscious racism? She knew that demons were far less susceptible than humans to, well, die, but she still felt awful for paying less attention to them. Even if she would from now on. Even if it wasn't harmful. She refused to think that way.

She brought her attention back to the auction, right in time to see the reveal of Onigumo's new painting. Her and Sango were too far to really see it correctly, but a whisper ran through the crowd. From what she could see, it represented a woman. A beautiful woman with pale skin, red eyes, black hair, holding a feather in her hand and, what was that around her?

Bodies.

Cut, bleeding bodies.

Kagome clasped a hand on her mouth. The scene was terribly familiar. It looked, actually, very similar to the massacre of the wolves.

Koga's words came back to her, and she just couldn't believe it.

The auction started, and she had the hardest time to pay attention to it, all her attention on the painting. As the prices were rising, a hand rose, and Sango gasped next to her. Curious, Kagome managed to turn towards the person. At first, she wasn't sure whether they were a man or a woman. They had long, white hair, porcelain skin, and one of the most beautiful face she had ever seen.

"That's Sesshomaru," Sango whispered. "Inuyasha's publicist, and powerful demon. He's unbelievably rich, but I don't think I've _ever_ seen him get involved in an auction."

Kagome nodded and eyed Inuyasha. He seemed just as confused as Sango, but there was something else in his attitude, something that worried her. Maybe it was how clenched his jaw seemed to be, or the resentment on his face.

She wrote down Sesshomaru's name, as he easily won the auction and the auctioneer announced that ' _The Lady of the Wind_ ' was going to him, and as soon as it was over, she stood up to find Inuyasha.

"I'll be right back," she simply told Sango.

Inuyasha seemed eager to flee from the place, and Kagome had to thread her way through the crowd. She thought she'd lost him for a second, before noticing the balcony. She felt a smile on her lips and decided not to dwell on what it was that was provoking it. She pushed the door open, and walked towards Inuyasha, leaning on the balustrade right next to him.

Sango watched her up to that point and was hesitating on what she was supposed to do when a hand fell on her shoulder, making her jump. She turned swiftly, clenching her fist in case she'd need to punch someone, and was surprised when Miroku deftly caught her hand in his before gently running his thumb on her knuckles.

"Sango, I thought you wouldn't come!"

Uh-oh.

* * *

Inuyasha turned towards the person who had the _nerve_ to come so close from him, a frown on his face, but was taken aback when he saw Kagome, of all people. As discreetly as possible, he took a deep breath. Once again, he wished he could have been a demon and smell her coming, and not only because of how wonderful her smell was.

"Hi," she said. "I didn't expect to see you here."

"They're selling my stuff," he mumbled. "'s not like I actually wanted to be here, though. That guy insisted."

"The man who bought the Onigumo painting?" Kagome asked, feeling vaguely dirty for trying to get informations that way. "Sango mentioned he was you publicist."

"Keh." Inuyasha looked absolutely disgusted at that moment. "Yeah. He is. Never saw him give a shit about paintings though."

"Did he say why he was interested, then?"

"Just went full 'nothing you'd be able to smell'." _For the second time tonight._

"Huh." These words reminded her of Koga once more, and she thought she would really have to talk to him about all that. Seriously, not having demons in law enforcement was a big mistake, no matter what people said.

"Are you alright?" she then asked, tilting her head. "You look a bit… tense."

Inuyasha shrugged. He couldn't just tell her the truth. That would blow his 'cover', if you could call what he was living that.

"Just don't like the bastard. Wouldn't miss him if his painting turned out to be cursed."

Kagome pursed her lips and let her shoulder touch his. Focused on her thoughts, she didn't notice how he went completely still at the contact. He really regretted that they were both wearing a shirt that night. He would have loved to feel her skin against his.

What the fuck was he thinking?

"I don't wish it on anyone."

"He's a demon. I'm sure he could handle it."

"Even demons can be hurt."

Inuyasha looked at her, feeling a strange flame lighting in his chest. Something he usually destroyed methodically every time it appeared in his life, something that had made him go through the toughest times he had ever lived and left him utterly crushed.

Hope.

He had to ask another question, though. The answer could kill the hope, or make it rise higher, but he had to know. Letting it unanswered would mean that there was still a hope, and that was a mistake he was not willing to make a second time.

He licked his lips, choosing his words carefully, and imperceptibly moved his arm to get more contact with her. This time, Kagome noticed and did her best to hide her smile.

"Sure they can. But you wouldn't say it wouldn't be a loss?"

The words seemed to shock her, and she turned towards him, moving her arm away from his, apparently prepared to get angry at him, but she calmed down when her eyes met his. He didn't look like _he_ thought it wouldn't be a loss, just because the man was a demon. She tried to relax, but she was still frowning when she answered.

"No, Inuyasha, I wouldn't say that. I don't know him, and just because he's a demon certainly isn't a reason for me to wish anything bad to him."

She expected an answer, but Inuyasha simply nodded, examining her. She felt her breath catch in her throat at how intense his stare was becoming. She felt exactly the way she'd felt at their painting session, except that this time, he wasn't painting her. He was just looking at her, with exactly the same interest. The thought was enough to make a weird, tickling sensation run under her skin. She could tell she was probably starting to blush, and Inuyasha still wasn't saying anything. The silence didn't feel uncomfortable nor awkward, not with how their eyes were locked together.

"Are you free later this week?" he finally asked.

The charm was lifted, and Kagome made the gesture of replacing a lock of hair, forgetting that Sango had tied them up earlier.

"I'm quite busy those days, but, erm, I should be free…" She mentally went through what she had planned, unable to remember anything correctly, and finally deciding to just invent something. "Friday night? For… another session, right?"

Inuyasha seemed to hesitate, and her eyes widened a bit when she noticed it. Was he going to offer…?

"Yeah," he answered. "Yeah, that'd be good."

There was a silence, and this one actually was awkward.

"Would you like to eat with me?" It wasn't much louder than a whisper, and Kagome nearly missed it. At first, she thought she'd misheard, but the way Inuyasha looked at her, expectantly, and then quickly got back to looking at his shoes made her decide she hadn't.

"I would _love_ to," she said, probably a bit too happy about it.

Inuyasha's face lit up with a smile that made him look a lot, lot longer, and she wondered if that was the first time she saw him smile. Really smile, not just smirk.

"That's great. Is there anything you'd like?"

Kagome shrugged, smiling back.

"Nothing in particular, I'll trust you with that."

The words seemed to surprise Inuyasha, but he nodded quickly.

"I'll get going then. 'til Friday."

He almost ran away, and she had to ask herself if she really was that frightening. She sighed happily. She hadn't noticed she was almost holding her breath when he asked her.

Sango suddenly appeared next to her.

"You'll tell me all about it in the car, Kags, but if we stay here one more second, I _will_ break Miroku's hand. Let's go."

Kagome hummed lightly and followed her, hopping around. Sango smiled at her friend's happiness. She wished she had had as nice an encounter as her, but unfortunately, her and Miroku had been interrupted by one of his older conquests, and the way he had tried to flirt with her while simultaneously having his arm wrapped around that woman's waist had been to much for her. Oh well, she had never expected this to be easy, and if nothing was to happen, then nothing would happen. She'd survive.

She always did.

* * *

 _There, hope you've enjoyed! Please let me know and leave a review if you did!_

 _Dya._

 _(long answer to a review below)_

 _Guest: I'm going to answer you because I've seen a lot of comments like that recently. I'm not sure you will see my answer, but this is the best I can do since I can't contact you. Authors have Koga 'going after Kagome' because he does, all the time, in the manga and the anime. He hugs her, he holds her hands, there's one time when he tells her 'I love children by the way, Kagome'. I personally consider the manga as being the only canon (it technically is), and Ayame doesn't even exist there, she's just filler. I happen to like her, so I tend to try to add her in my writing, but I still think her story with Koga in the anime is terrible (I have a problem with adults asking children to marry them, sorry not sorry)._

 _The Wolf Elders do not exist. They're never mentioned. In the manga, we see other wolf tribes and there's no mention of them. We don't even see people who look old. We do see ghosts/spirits though, but they never say anything to Koga about Kagome (they probably don't care). Even if they did exist, this is an AU, and I haven't mentioned the rules in this universe. Kagome and Kikyo canonically look alike. They may appear different in the anime, but it's made very clear in the manga that they do, and it's stated over and over again by the characters. Hell, Inuyasha mistook Kikyo and Kagome at first, and he was supposed to be in love with Kikyo! It's pretty common in mangas/animes to say that two characters look the same while drawing them differently so that the readers won't get confused._

 _Mating also does not exist. A lot of authors use it as a trope, but it is never mentioned in the original material. Ever (except in one mistake in the english dub). And we don't know anything about the relationship between Toga, Izayoi and Sesshomaru's mother. You can headcanon whatever though, but authors may hold different views._

 _Your comment is, indeed, just your opinion. But apparently, you're blaming me for not conforming to_ _your headcanons._


	5. Escape to Transformation

_Disclaimer:_ _None of the characters belong to me._

* * *

Escape to Transformation

The following morning, the employees saw Sango walking into the museum right on time, as she always did, wearing perfectly matched clothes, with her hair and make up perfectly done. She greeted some of them and gave a few orders before locking herself up in her office. Even there, she couldn't just let herself slip to the ground, like she would have wanted to, because of the picture windows everywhere. Sure, it all looked very nice from the outside, but sometimes it drove her crazy.

So, instead, she walked directly to her desk, and allowed herself to relax only once she was seated, even then barely letting her shoulders sag.

On mornings like these, putting on a show was exhausting.

She liked her job, most of the time. She knew she had climbed the ladder seemingly effortlessly, but she had actually put a lot of work into it, and even now, it occupied pretty much all of her time. Which she didn't really mind. She had always been hardworking, and she liked to give things her all.

It was just… Sometimes… It was boring. That would probably have sounded like the worst insult to a lot of other people, who would have talked passionately about rearranging sections, and the art market, and artists, and Sango knew all of that by heart. She did. She just… Well, there was a time, before Kohaku's disappearance, where there had been talk, between them, of following in their parents footsteps.

They didn't really want to work in the police, but they did consider reopening the family business, as demons slayers. There weren't that much anymore, but the few agencies that were left were really valued. Not as killers, but rather as some sort of highly specialized private detectives.

And, yes, occasionally, as killers, however it wasn't that part of the business that interested her nor her brother.

Sango and Kohaku had trained, as kids and even later, conforming to the family tradition. Sango had actually proved to be very good at hand to hand combat, but also with a boomerang. Kohaku was clumsier, less of a natural than his older sister, but he was certainly getting there before he'd…

Sango took a deep breath, instantly blocking the thought away. The years hadn't softened her pain, and even now, she knew perfectly well that it wouldn't take much to get her to cry.

At least, now, Kagome was looking into it. Maybe it would give her closure. Maybe she would finally accept that Naraku had nothing to do with all that and that Kohaku was dead.

Part of her hoped so. She didn't want to imagine what his life had been until now, if he was alive. Part of her, which she couldn't help but think of as selfish, hoped he was alive anyway and that one day, she would get to hold him in her arms again, and never let him go.

Sango discreetly massaged her temples. She had spent more time than usual putting on make-up, in order to hide the rings under her eyes. She had been drinking late the night before, which meant that when her alarm had rung, she didn't only look like shit, but feel like it as well. She had cursed herself for being so pathetic. She should have known better than to fall for Miroku and to get sad over it. She knew who he was, she knew all there was to know about his reputation, and yet she hadn't been careful enough. Before she knew it, when they had worked together, she had started looking forwards to seeing him again, to hearing his voice.

She was such an idiot.

At least, last night was a good reminder of that. She didn't know why it had been such a shock to her, to see him flirting with someone else. Probably because recently, she had been the only one he'd paid attention to, as far as she knew.

Ah. Right. She just didn't know about the others.

 _Stupid. Stupid. Stupid._

She quickly looked through her e-mails. She had an habit of only doing that at her workplace. Important and urgent matters would get to her on her phone, and that helped leaving her job behind, even if, really, Sango never actually left it behind, always bringing back files that needed to be reviewed and all sorts of authorization that needed to be signed.

Among a few various emails of private collectors or invitations to auctions, one caught her attention, enough for her to forget how to breathe for a few seconds.

Naraku had sold _The Spider's Web_ , which was now 'Kohaku's painting' in her mind. However, as she quickly scrolled through the rest of the emails, wanting to look into it soon, she discovered it hadn't been the only Onigumo painting sold during the night. He had sold a _lot_ of them.

In fact, it looked like… It only took her a few minutes to confirm her suspicion, and she then let herself fall back and lean against the back of her leather chair. That was weird. That was suspicious. That was probably the first time this ever happened.

Naraku had sold _all_ of Onigumo's known paintings.

* * *

"Yes?" Kagome croaked in the phone.

" _Sorry. You were sleeping?_ "

"Ugh. No. Well, I shouldn't have been. What's going on?"

" _It has to do with Naraku. Well, Onigumo. Both. Whatever._ "

Kagome slowly sat up on her bed. She had been up doing researches on Inuyasha's publicist and Onigumo's newest painting for a good part of last night, and while she had found a few interesting informations on Sesshomaru, she wasn't sure any of those were relevant to the case. She ran her fingers through her hair only to find them awfully messy and she sighed, giving it up to rub her eyes instead.

Sango was being weird. Her voice was too tense, and she sounded like she was going to explode at any moment.

"What is it?"

" _All of Onigumo's paintings were sold. Naraku doesn't have any of them left in his stock._ "

Kagome tilted her head to the side, frowning. Hm, okay?

"That must happen all the ti—"

" _No, Kags, it doesn't. In fact, it never happens. It's part of the mystery. When a new painting appears, one disappears. Naraku must have a very,_ very _good reason to be doing that. Either there's a lot more in production right now, as we speak, but Onigumo's a painter, not a machine, or…_ "

This time, she had Kagome's full attention.

"Or he's got something in mind. And, if the Curse is real, that could be bad." Then she deflated. "Or he's indebted and he needs the money."

" _I doubt that. I think I'd have heard about it. I know who he'd ask for help. Plus, even if he did? That's bad for business. He wouldn't have done it all in one night._ "

Kagome yawned. She knew the information was important, but right now she had no idea what to do with it. She had close to zero good leads, and absolutely no idea what Naraku was doing with these paintings. Hell, she wasn't even sure he _was_ doing something. She had absolutely no proof of that, only suspicions. Yes, it was a _lot_ of suspicions, but nothing she could write an article on. Particularly if she didn't want to get sued for slander.

" _Anyway, I have an appointment to go see_ The Spider's Web _at the buyer's house in town._ "

Kagome blinked.

"Wait, the buyer's _in town_?"

There was a silence during which she could hear Sango's hands furiously typing on her keyboard.

" _Yes, and apparently,_ every _buyers are. I mean, I know there are rich people who love art here but doesn't that seem…_ "

"Like a funny coincidence? Totally does. What on earth could he be trying to achieve? Hey, wait, do you happen to know what species the paintings belong to? I may have a hunch."

Once again, all Kagome could hear was typing for a few moments before Sango answered, her voice clearly surprised.

" _Nearly_ all _paintings were sold to demons. Pretty powerful ones, with that._ "

"And I'm willing to bet those that weren't will be having new owners quickly. That buyer you're going to see, he's…"

" _Human. You think I…_ "

"Yup, you should tell him to sell while he still can. Mind if I join you?"

" _That's why I was calling. I know you'll probably find nothing wrong with the painting, but I was hoping that maybe, new eyes would…_ "

"Wait, can I bring Koga too?"

There was a silence, and Kagome knew she was asking a lot right now, but Sango finally agreed with a sigh.

" _Alright. After all, maybe his nose will give us new informations. Although, for all I know, wolf-demons are less efficient than dog-demons, when it comes to smell. You wouldn't happen to know anyone like that, would you?_ "

"Sorry, I don't. I don't _really_ make friends because they'd be of use for me, you know?" Kagome answered with a smile. "Can you pick me up? I'll call Koga to give him the address."

On that agreement, they both hung up. Kagome gave herself a few seconds to breathe before dialing Koga's number. He had been more normal with her recently, but she was pretty sure that was already wearing off. If it was, the following hours would be exhausting.

" _Hey there, gorgeous_ ," the wolf literally _purred_ when he answered the phone.

Kagome didn't even bother to hide her groan, despite knowing that he would hear her loud and clear, even over the phone. Oh, this was going to be a long day…

* * *

Sango didn't waste any time after calling Kagome. She pretty much sprung out of her office, grabbing her coat on the way, and she was close from sprinting towards the door, which, with her high heels, you would never have thought was possible. Her speed, however, didn't allow her to pass unnoticed in front of the man who had been patiently waiting for her and who flashed her a smile as soon as she was in sight.

God no. Not now. She really couldn't handle that.

"Dear Sango!" Miroku greeted her warmly, stepping right in front of her. "Seeing you is always a pleasure. Here," he added, producing a red rose that seemingly came out of nowhere.

Sango felt her heart melt a little. She had that thing for roses — or, really, all type of flowers. She shook herself as quickly as possible. Kagome was waiting for her, and more importantly, she needed to stop any form of relationship with Miroku. She didn't need that type of pain in her life, on top of everything else.

"I can't do that right now, Mr. Houshi," she answered on a terrifyingly polite tone. "Please see my assistant if there is anything you want with the museum, and if not, I have an appointment and I would be grateful if you could let me pass."

Not so bad for someone who was still hungover and terribly pissed at him, huh?

"Mr Houshi?" Miroku repeated, his tone losing his usual cheerfulness. "You wound me."

And she was about 99% sure that he did not care the least, but he actually _did_ look sad, and so the last one percent managed to make its way to both her brain and her heart.

"Miroku," she said, already cursing herself for playing his game, "I really don't have time for this, and honestly, I'm tired of your incessant flirting. Could we stop this now? Let's just be friends, that way you can stop trying to get in my pants."

That seemed like a perfectly reasonable proposition to her. She couldn't be absolutely sure that she wouldn't _sill_ end up hurt by that arrangement, but it was better than whatever it was that they had going on between them.

"Sango," Miroku answered, grabbing her hand and bringing it to his lips, "I do not wish for friendship, not with you. I…"

She pulled back her hand, rolling her eyes. He just had to do that every time. Invading her space, trying to woo her or being over romantic. It was just getting old.

Or maybe she was just absolutely sure that he did that with everyone and that was what she actually hated.

Nah, clearly, it couldn't be.

"Listen, as surprising as it may be, not _everyone_ wants to end up on one of your paintings, and I certainly have no interest in being a one night stand that you'll forget about the next morning, so save it. Now, if you'll excuse me…"

But Miroku wasn't done.

"Then what if it's serious?"

Sango, who had already started to walk away, stopped dead in her tracks and turned towards him extremely slowly.

"Excuse me?" She looked shocked, probably because she was. Her brain was already running at a thousand miles per hour, trying to find any reason why he would do that, but none of them made sense. Miroku was a hopeless flirt, yes, but he was also an honest person. She didn't think he would _offer_ something serious if he didn't want something serious.

But then, that didn't make sense either, because why on earth would _Miroku Houshi_ want something serious? With _her_?

"You just said you don't want a one night stand," he explained, "well, me neither. I've had quite enough of that right now. So I'm offering a counter-proposition. Let's make it serious." Sango scanned his face, looking for any indication that he was joking. She didn't find any. She started shaking her head and took a step back.

"No— Listen, Miroku, I— I don't think that's…"

"What, you don't like me?" he asked, his mouth stretching into a teasing grin as he started walking towards her. She felt her cheeks flushing, and suddenly, it felt a lot hotter in the museum, which she knew was impossible, because it was actually damn _cold_ cause the place was a pain in the ass to heat. "Come on, Sango," he added, talking real close from her ear and sending a shiver down her spine that had nothing to do with the temperature, "you can't say you don't want me because I don't want something serious and then reject that too. You know I'm right."

Truth be told, right now, she kind of just wanted to take absolutely anything he was willing to offer her and to just let herself melt in his arms. She was sure he was a great kisser, and fuck it if the place was where she worked.

And as she was thinking that and seriously considering passionately kissing him in front of everyone, what he said slowly made its way to her brain, and she realized that he was _actually_ right. Damn it.

Well, you know what? Fine. _Fine_. But she was _not_ going to let him toy with her the way he always did. _She_ would be the one calling the shots.

"Okay," she said.

Miroku froze and blinked a couple of times, dumbly. When he managed to turn his face to look at Sango, he met her determined black eyes, and she nodded firmly.

"What did you just…?"

"I said okay," she interrupted him. "I'll pick you up Friday night at seven. Wait, make it six. Wear something warm, alright? I really have to go now. I'll see you on Friday!"

On that, she spun on her awfully high heels, and with just a few clips on the ground, she was gone, leaving Miroku to just stare after her. It took him a long time to finally move again. When he did, he had the biggest, brightest, and probably stupidest smile on his face that anyone had ever seen him with.

* * *

Kagome was waiting for her in front of her building, and Sango couldn't help but grin when she spotted her friend. She was wearing dark jeans, a leather jacket, and had her helmet under her arm. Sango was the one who had given it to her, years ago, as a birthday present, but also pretty much as a way of saying "you're worthy of riding my most precious belonging with me". Kagome had appreciated it at its just value.

The journalist jumped behind her, putting the helmet on, and then they took off. It wasn't a crazy ride, like they did when Kagome was still in college and Sango was just starting with her job at the museum — not the job she had right now, obviously. Sango had always enjoyed the adrenaline that came to her with speed, and Kagome liked _adventure._ They had gone on more than one of those, most of which would forever remain a well-kept secret between the two of them.

Things were different now, though, and they had been for a while. Sango didn't have time for that kind of stuff, nor to carry Kagome around when she needed to. The director of the museum was also more careful, either more aware of the danger or just not willing to get in trouble with the police. But still, there was a moment, as they climbed up a hill and Sango took sharp bends probably a little too fast, when her heart raced and she heard Kagome's laugh.

It was still exhilarating, it was still fun. It didn't last as long as it used to, because she didn't let it, but she could still enjoy it. For now, though, all of her thoughts were on what was waiting for them in the fancy house they were now facing.

Koga was already there waiting for them. He had no car nor bike with him, which left Sango to guess that he had gotten here by himself. It was no surprise, to be honest. Many demons could travel by themselves, just as fast, if not faster than humans.

Sango had to resist the urge to scoff when he flashed his wolfish grin at Kagome. Her friend had mentioned how he had been less flirty since the massacre of his tribe, but it looked like he had recovered. Kagome herself answered with a tense smile, skillfully avoiding Koga's embrace when they walked towards him.

"Now's not the moment," she protested, putting a clear distance between them.

"So there will be a moment?" He replied cockily, absolutely not thrown back by her answer.

Kagome rolled her eyes. "No, Koga, there won't be a moment. Ever. I think we've discussed that more than enough."

As much as Sango wanted to see her finally make things clear with the wolf-demon, they had an appointment. Kagome had insisted on bringing him, and there he was, so they had to deal with it. Plus, if she was completely honest, she desperately hoped he would be able to give them new informations, about things she had never — _could_ never — noticed. She had spent house looking at that painting, unable to find anything helpful about Kohaku's situation, so if there was even the tiniest chance that his demonic sense of smell would help, she would take it. Without so much as a hesitation.

She rung the doorbell, and they waited until the gate opened, sliding without a noise.

"We're going to meet with Mr. Gashira," Sango explained while they walked to the door. "He's an old man _and_ a priest, so treat him with respect, alright?"

Koga sniggered, earning two dark, and rather confused, looks from the young women.

"You girls can't tell, huh?"

Kagome tilted her head, looking at the wolf-demon with attention. Truth be told, she'd had a weird feeling when they'd arrived in front of the mansion, but she had thought nothing of it. Now that _he_ brought it up, though…

"Could it be…"

"Guy's a spider demon. You humans really are bad at that stuff, huh?"

Kagome and Sango exchanged a glance. He wasn't wrong. Society had been changed by humans, and demons were completely outnumbered, but they held much more power. That was the basis of the current, and admittedly reluctant, cohabitation. Most humans didn't give much thought to demons as they went with their day. There were not that many people who did control spiritual powers, but most also did not care. Species stayed away from each other more often than not, and everyone was very satisfied with that, making sure that they didn't give any of that too much thought.

It did annoy Sango though, to find out about it like that, because she was actually pretty good at that stuff. She was rather sensitive when it came to demons, even if she didn't have any spiritual powers. Kagome, on the other hand, was just learning about her abilities, and the fact that she had been right about the weird atmosphere around her was good… But also had her wary. As a journalist, she didn't know how much she could or should rely her new powers. It had worked well for Kaede, sure, but what would happen with her? What if her intuition ever betrayed her?

"Let's get in," Sango said with a motion of her head. "Remember what I said," she added for Koga. "Don't let him know _we_ know, I'm not sure what he'd do then."

Koga was about to shrug and brag about how he could easily protect them when an old man appeared in front of them. He was bald, short, and was wearing a kind smile that had none of them fooled. It didn't stop Sango from greeting him warmly and introducing the others to him, presenting Kagome as a journalist, and Koga as an expert, although she didn't say on _what_.

The man seemed to be extremely happy with showing them his house. He had an enormous collection of spiders, which had Kagome shuddering. She wasn't really arachnophobic, but seeing the boxes covering the walls surely didn't make her feel at ease. She was extremely happy when they finally walked into the room that was dedicated to paintings… Only to realize that said paintings were _all_ about spiders as well.

There were days when nothing seemed to go her way. With a sigh, she grabbed her camera in her bag and pulled it out.

"Do you mind if I take a few pictures, Sir?" she asked politely.

"I would be _delighted_ ," he answered, looking rather proud of the place. "I can also show you more spiders if you want to!"

Kagome giggled lightly. _God no_. "Thank you, I think I have more than enough material here!"

She took a picture of the _Spider's Web_ in front of which Sango had stopped. She was worried about the reaction her friend would have, but she looked rather calm. Of course, Kagome had no way of knowing that Sango knew the painting by heart now, and that she hadn't thought she would find anything new by coming here. It still brought an uncomfortable sadness in her heart, to look at it, but it was nothing she couldn't crush and bury deep inside of herself.

"Noticing anything?" she whispered to Koga. She wasn't sure how much she trusted the guy. She knew Kagome considered him a friend, but Sango had been taught not to trust demons, and it was hard for her to go against that.

"Smells weird," he simply said before putting some distance between them, and she realized he was probably pretty much in the same state of mind when it came to her.

After a few more questions to the man, the small group got out again, and Sango thanked him profusely. She wasn't stupid and knew what he would expect in return; that if the museum ever acquired a work of art he liked, she would sell it back quickly. It wasn't really legal and it was that kind of stuff, among other things, that had gotten her predecessor fired. She wasn't one to give favors, but she tended to lose her ethics when it came to Kohaku. She would give anything to get her brother back. Even if it destroyed her life.

"So?" she questioned almost immediately. "Did your nose get anything?"

Koga ignored her to turn towards Kagome.

"The thing's weird, but I don't think it had anything to do with my Tribe."

"What do you mean weird?" Kagome asked him while Sango rolled her eyes. Couldn't help but try to impress her, huh?

"Just the smell. It's too real. It's…" He glanced at Sango, which didn't go unnoticed to Kagome, but stopped and shook his head. "Never mind. There's probably some demonic shit going on here, but I doubt it had anything with my wolves. I think I'll get on the ass of the guy that was there yesterday."

Naraku. If he was even half as dangerous as Kagome was starting to suspect, this was a _terrible_ idea.

"Wait, Koga, I don't think that's…"

"No need to worry about me, Kagome," he grinned, grabbing her hands. "I'll prove myself to you, and I'll be free for you as soon as I'm done with all of this."

She very visibly grimaced, which Koga either didn't notice or ignore. Turning around, he winked at Sango, and just took off, running.

"He's fast," Sango commented, her voice completely indifferent.

"That he is," Kagome mumbled. "I precisely wish he would _listen_ a bit more, you know? Anyway, apparently, he didn't find anything with the painting."

"Or he didn't want to say," Sango added. "That didn't mean there is nothing to be found." She knew how she probably sounded, like someone who just refused to let go of a crazy idea, but she couldn't help it. If there was even the slightest chance that the painting was linked to Kohaku, she wasn't going to give up on it.

Kagome looked down at her camera. The sight of the painting made her shiver once again. There was a giant spider's web that took the upper half of the canvas, in the middle of which the head of man could be found, his hair turning into the threads. On the bottom half, there were people, all connected to the web, all frozen, all with dead eyes. It was far from being one of Onigumo's most violent works, but Kagome still found it to be very unsettling. Maybe it was because of Sango's story.

Or maybe there was more to it, and the impression came from her powers. She couldn't tell. Perhaps she should take Kaede on her offer to help her mastering her abilities. She hated the idea of being able to hurt someone, but it made sense that she would learn more about it.

"I have a date with Miroku," Sango blurted out, almost making her jump.

"Oh my God! What? You finally accepted?"

There was the loveliest blush on her friend's cheeks when she nodded.

"It's Friday. I thought I'd take him on Kirara and show him the cave on my family's property, you know?"

Kagome emitted an impressed whistle.

"On a first date? Are you sure? You're going to scare the poor boy to death, you know."

Sango grinned.

"I know. It's the point. If he comes back, then he's worth it."

Kagome chuckled.

She had a hunch that Miroku would come back, and while that had nothing to do with her spiritual powers, she was willing to trust it.

* * *

"…and then she said she'd see me on Friday," Miroku concluded with a dreamy sigh.

If Inuyasha had to hear the story _one more time_ , it didn't matter that he was his best friend, he would fuckin' kill him. He wouldn't hesitate, he would just go for it. Yes, he knew the guy had been going after Sango for months, and he was thrilled for him that she'd said yes, although he did stand behind his opinion that Miroku did not deserve her, but he didn't want to hear about it _four times in a row_.

Each time Miroku had told him the story, his eyes shining, Inuyasha had felt the vague — and stupid — urge to let him know that he would be meeting Kagome on Friday as well. Except that he couldn't tell him that, because the moron would never let it go.

Why did humans want to share their feelings so much, dammit?

"Okay, so because I'm so nice, I'm going to make you a proposition, Inuyasha," Miroku said dramatically, and Inuyasha turned his attention back to him. "I _will_ ask Sango if she's fine with making this a double date and bring Kagome too."

Shit. Now it looked like he didn't have a choice, did he?

"Nah, thanks."

Miroku would never take that for an answer.

"What?" he protested, looking outraged. "Come on, Inuyasha, you can't reject my offer! Kagome is probably the sweetest thing that has ever walked this earth…"

Inuyasha repressed the growl that rose in his chest at his friend's words. He knew he was being dumbly possessive over someone who most definitely didn't belong to him and that never would — not just because she was a person and not an object, but because he didn't have any right to claim her in any way.

"Don't let Sango hear you say that," he mumbled instead, effectively interrupting his friend. Miroku actually stopped talking, and for a second, his eyes seemed to drift to a very, very different place.

"She accepted to go on a date with me when I said I wanted to take it seriously," he said. Inuyasha rose an eyebrow. How on earth had he managed to say the story four times without mentioning that? "I think I might be in love with her."

Inuyasha could have scoffed at that, he could have laughed at his friend. He did not. He just looked at him, and concluded that Miroku was, in fact, saying the truth.

"Y'know, if you're sincere, I think you might actually make a decent boyfriend."

Miroku's eyes were still serious when he looked back at the other painter.

"You think so?" he asked slowly. "I actually don't have that much experience with that. I think I can say I'm a great lover, and I can _certainly_ amaze the ladies, but I can't recall any serious relationship. _You_ have more experience in that domain than I do."

Inuyasha tensed at the man's words. Not because he was wrong, but because of the memories it brought to him. He tried not to think about Kikyou, not to think about how she'd screamed that night, about the things she'd said and about the disgust in her eyes when she had looked at him. Particularly tonight. But Miroku had no way to know, and it was too late now. He didn't bother to force a smile and just shrugged. He didn't care if he didn't have as much experience with women as Miroku.

"Well maybe don't remind her about that on the date, got it?"

Miroku looked at him like he had just been insulted. "Do you think I'm the type to brag about it?"

Inuyasha stared at him. "Yes."

Miroku tried to come up with excuses, but Inuyasha was completely right. Most women who came up to him wanted him to paint them or to sleep with them. Talking about previous conquests was typically a part of foreplay. Plus, to be honest, he did tend to act like a moron around Sango.

"She's going to kill me before the end of the date and to dump my body into the sea," he commented with the voice of a man who came to a conclusion and has already accepted his fate.

Inuyasha was certainly not going to contradict him. Sango was definitely capable of doing that, if he was less than a gentleman.

What _did_ worry him was whether or not Kagome was the type to help hide the body. If that was the case, maybe he should watch himself as well on Friday night.

* * *

"Aaaand here you go!" Kagome happily chirped, handing Sango her hamburger and merrily biting into her own, letting out a small groan of pleasure as she did so. Next to her, Sango took a huge bite as well. She looked just as satisfied as the journalist.

It wasn't just the food, although those were certainly the best hamburgers you could find in this part of town, and it definitely wasn't the place, because between the truck-drivers and the incessant passage of cars, there were far nicer spots to enjoy some food. They were mostly both happy to find themselves together.

"This feels like college all over again, doesn't it?" Kagome giggled, wiping her mouth with the cheap napkins that had been handed to her with the food.

"Except that in college, Hojo followed us around everywhere," Sango answered with a grin. "He was so afraid something would happen to you."

"No, Hojo was afraid for the both of us," Kagome corrected her. "Remember how he would always be awfully slow and then yell at you for not respecting the speed limit?"

"Ugh, tell me about it. I took him for a ride once. _Once_. Never again."

Kagome laughed and nearly choked on her food. Clearly, that was a sign from her karma that she was being a bitch, but all of this was true. Hojo's passion for following rules wasn't rivaled by anything in his life. And certainly not his passion for her, at the time.

"So, date with Miroku on Friday, huh?" she asked innocently.

But Sango wasn't one to dissect the conversation she had had with him over and over again. Kagome had the information, it should be more than enough.

"What about you, no plans with Koga?" Sango teased in return, refusing to play her friend's game. She really didn't expect anything of the question. Kagome was not interest by Koga, and she had made it clear before. And yet… She blushed.

"What?" she spat. "Seriously, Kags? You're…"

"Not with Koga!" Kagome immediately protested. "Inuyasha. On Friday too."

Sango quizzically rose an eyebrow, and that look on her face clearly meant 'Don't even _try_ to hide anything from me'. Kagome being _precisely_ one to dissect everything, she just started to talk and didn't stop until Sango had gotten every little detail that might be of use.

Once she was done, she glanced at her friend, and her heart stopped when she saw her _frowning_.

"What is it? Inuyasha is actually a psychopath and everyone knows about it and that's why he's still single?"

Sango shook her head, the theory bringing a smile to her lips.

"No, Inuyasha's still single because he has the shittiest temper ever. I just… feel like there's something I should be thinking about right now, but it's not coming back to me."

"How bad is it?" Kagome instantly started up again. "Should I worry? Is it the 'your heart will break' type or the 'he's going to make clothes and lampshades with your skin' type?"

"He's an _artist_ , Kags. If anything, he would probably make paint with parts of your body. Ugh, this is so frustrating."

"If you're not serious, please don't talk about my date making paint with my body parts."

"You _started it_ , Kagome." She shook her head and uncrossed her legs. "Forget about it. It's probably not that important anyway. I simply feel like there's something I've been thinking about and now it's gone."

Kagome shrugged. Now all she wanted to do was know about it, of course, and part of her also wanted to look for every piece of information she could find on Inuyasha, but she refused to do that. That was a line she simply refused to cross. Which made her remember…

"I _don't_ want you to find creepy stuff about him, alright?" she warned her friend, raising a finger. "I'm not even sure how much I like the guy yet," _even though the way he looks at me when he paints me makes me go crazy,_ "but I don't want you ruining anything for me. Understood?"

"Sure," Sango answered, blinking innocently.

She proceeded to take a sip of her bottle of water under Kagome's suspicious gaze. The journalist was going to let it go, until she realized something.

"And you will _not_ tell your mom about it either, okay? I really appreciate how concerned she is with my dating life, but I really don't need that."

Sango sighed loudly and Kagome grinned. So she _had_ planned to do it. She wished discovering Naraku's secrets was as easy as deciphering her best friend's antics. Truth was, one of the reason she was looking that much towards this date with Inuyasha was probably because of how dark the week had been.

Or maybe she already liked the guy more than she wanted to admit and more than she would have thought was possible, given how little they had talked. She honestly didn't know.

"Hey, think there's any chance I could get a meeting with… Sesshomaru? Inuyasha's publicist? He bought Naraku's last painting and I think I have a hunch here."

"Ooh, I wouldn't bet on that," Sango grimaced. "Sesshomaru really doesn't like humans, particularly journalists. I can try for you, though, but I don't think I'll be able to come with you this time. I'll let you know about that later, alright?"

Kagome nodded, and Sango stood up. With a motion of her head, she pointed at Kirara and Kagome stood as well, sighing. Back in the days, they would probably have spent the rest of the night trying to find fun spots that they didn't know of yet. That was over though; Kagome had work to do, and Sango would probably have to stay up most of the night to make up for the time she had spent out.

Oh well. It had been nice to do that again. They both felt somewhat of a sad twinge in their hearts as they went home. Nostalgia could be a bitch sometimes.

* * *

"Seriously Miroku, you need to get the fuck out, _now_."

"Oh come on," the painter protested, "what is going on? Is someone on his time of the month?"

"You know what? Add that to the list of stuff not to say on your date," Inuyasha growled, literally pushing his friend out of his house. "Actually, never say that to any woman. _Ever_. Even if she's actually on her period."

"Why not? If she _is_ —"

"If she _is_ on her period, it doesn't mean that she'll stop being angry just because you mentioned it. Her feelings won't change or matter less. Plus, chances are you're actually just being a complete asshole," Inuyasha explained, managing to get his friend out on the doorstep while he was listening, surprisingly paying a lot of attention to Inuyasha's explanation.

"How the hell do _you_ know that?" Miroku breathed out. Inuyasha rolled his eyes and didn't answer the question. He had spent most of the day precisely avoiding the subject of his past relationship with Kikyou, and he couldn't believe Miroku hadn't gotten the hint yet. Knowing Miroku, he probably had, and still wanted him to get to talk about it.

Fuckin' idiot thought that since he refused to see a therapist about it, he should be a replacement for that. Okay, maybe that was actually rather thoughtful and the next best thing, but Inuyasha didn't like to _talk_ , dammit.

"Night, Miroku," he simply muttered, before slamming the door in his friend's face.

He knew he was being a bit of a dick right now, but to be fair, Miroku had really gotten on his nerves tonight, and most importantly, he was always nervous on the new moon. As soon as the door was closed, he practically ran towards his painting room. Tetsusaiga was there, in its scabbard, carefully put on the mantelpiece. He grabbed it, and instantly felt better at the familiar feeling of the sword's hilt. He didn't know why holding a sword felt so good, so natural, but he managed to calm down a bit.

He closed all the curtains and locked the doors, still holding the sword tight. He knew he was being completely paranoid. There was no way anyone would come to the property, and he was really isolated — Sesshomaru had made damn sure of that, precisely for nights like that — but he wouldn't have the same thing happen to him twice. He would never see that look in anyone's eyes again, the hurt, the betrayal, the disgust…

He held the sword tighter and, without a word or even a sound, he let himself fall down behind the sofa, directly onto the ground. He swiftly took of his shoes, a simple habit that turned out to be really important on those night, at least if he didn't want to ruin the shoes.

He couldn't feel himself… _changing_ yet, which was normal since he still had about an hour of daytime left. He knew, though, that there was no way he would get anything done in these conditions, so he just waited there, almost perfectly still.

He tried not to let his thoughts wonder too far, but it was hard not to, with Miroku constantly bringing up Kikyou. Thinking about the past undoubtedly made him think about the present, and that scared the hell out of him. Thinking about Kagome, thinking about her lovely mouth and her beautiful eyes, thinking about how _nice_ she was, even to him. Thinking about how he didn't want to lose that and yet he didn't have any right to any of that. For both of their sakes, he should let her go.

He should. But he desperately didn't want to. He tried to tell himself that on that date, she would see him for who he really was and be the one to walk away. He sure didn't have what it took to be the one to send _her_ away.

Just as he was thinking that, it finally came. The _change_. It started in his mouth, as it always did, and he opened it slightly, trying to get use to the new feeling. He ran his tongue against his teeth — no, _fangs_ — and cursed when he cut himself. Almost instantly, though, his tongue healed, probably the only advantage to this transformation, he thought bitterly. He adjusted his fingers around Tetsusaiga's hilt, trying not to hurt himself this time with the claws. Sure, he'd heal from that as well, but his hands were important to him.

He was happy that there were no mirrors in this room. He didn't want to see himself right now. Oh, he knew what he looked like. White hair, golden eyes, fuckin' fangs and claws on his hands _and_ feet, and to top it all off, those stupid dog ears on top of his head.

He looked like an animal, like a monster.

He was sure Sesshomaru would have agreed with him on that one. Kikyou probably would have too.

And that was when the dumb question popped inside his head, and just the thought of answering it made him want to scream.

 _What would Kagome think?_

* * *

 _And here you go! I hope you've enjoyed this chapter, someone was right with their theory on Inuyasha eheh, even if things are actually even more complicated than explained here. Please leave a review if you liked it, it helps motivating me to write more!_

 _Dya._


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